Guwahati, Jun 2 : A team from the Assembly, which wound up a two-day stock-taking visit to the Indo-Bangladesh border today, has all but concluded that Dispur cannot complete the border fencing, particularly in Karimganj district, without the Centre’s involvement.
The five-member consultative team of the Assembly, headed by Assam Accord implementation minister Bhumidhar Barman and comprising MLAs Keshav Mahanta, Jiten Gogoi, Chandi Basumatary and Bhupen Borah, toured Silchar and Karimganj to inspect the fencing.Senior bureaucrat P.K. Chowdhury, officials of the two districts and members of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) accompanied them during the site verification.
AGP legislator Mahanta and the Congress’s Bhupen Borah said they would finalise their recommendations in the next sitting of the meeting. However, the inspection has made it clear that the two stretches — one 3.5-km long and involving Karimganj town, and another 2.8-km long in Lathi Tilla in Karimganj district — cannot be fenced by Dispur alone.
“The Centre has to take up the matter at the highest level with Bangladesh. This stretch would otherwise remain open making the entire exercise meaningless. We will sit and finalise the recommendations in our next sitting. Till then we have asked the administration to increase the patrolling in the very porous areas to prevent influx,” he said.
Mahanta also said after interacting with the agencies involved in the fencing work like PWD, National Buildings Construction Corporation and National Projects Construction Corporation, that the work in the other stretches should be complete by March 31.
The residents of Karimganj town objected that if the fencing was done, a section of the town would fall outside it. Moreover, around 94.6 acres at Lathi Tilla will come under the possession of Bangladesh.
The team, an official source said, has recommended the protection of Malegarh Tillah in Karimganj built during the Sepoy Mutiny.
The team’s observations should help Dispur, which has been under tremendous pressure from the influential AASU to complete fencing at the earliest.
Assam shares a 272-km land border with Bangladesh and fencing it was part of the 1985 Assam Accord to prevent largescale influx.
Telegraph India
The five-member consultative team of the Assembly, headed by Assam Accord implementation minister Bhumidhar Barman and comprising MLAs Keshav Mahanta, Jiten Gogoi, Chandi Basumatary and Bhupen Borah, toured Silchar and Karimganj to inspect the fencing.Senior bureaucrat P.K. Chowdhury, officials of the two districts and members of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) accompanied them during the site verification.
AGP legislator Mahanta and the Congress’s Bhupen Borah said they would finalise their recommendations in the next sitting of the meeting. However, the inspection has made it clear that the two stretches — one 3.5-km long and involving Karimganj town, and another 2.8-km long in Lathi Tilla in Karimganj district — cannot be fenced by Dispur alone.
“The Centre has to take up the matter at the highest level with Bangladesh. This stretch would otherwise remain open making the entire exercise meaningless. We will sit and finalise the recommendations in our next sitting. Till then we have asked the administration to increase the patrolling in the very porous areas to prevent influx,” he said.
Mahanta also said after interacting with the agencies involved in the fencing work like PWD, National Buildings Construction Corporation and National Projects Construction Corporation, that the work in the other stretches should be complete by March 31.
The residents of Karimganj town objected that if the fencing was done, a section of the town would fall outside it. Moreover, around 94.6 acres at Lathi Tilla will come under the possession of Bangladesh.
The team, an official source said, has recommended the protection of Malegarh Tillah in Karimganj built during the Sepoy Mutiny.
The team’s observations should help Dispur, which has been under tremendous pressure from the influential AASU to complete fencing at the earliest.
Assam shares a 272-km land border with Bangladesh and fencing it was part of the 1985 Assam Accord to prevent largescale influx.
Telegraph India
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