Tripura CM holds meeting with BSF to curb infiltration from Bangladesh

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to check infiltration along the 856 km international border.
Saha, who also holds the home portfolio, on Thursday night held a meeting with top BSF officials and asked them to maintain strict vigil along the border and to take appropriate steps to prevent the infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals into Indian territory.

Saha told media persons in Agartala, “We have asked the BSF to take steps to check infiltration from across the border. Infiltration is taking place. We discussed that touts are involved and identified a couple of areas from which they make entry.”

He added, “BSF has assured that some forces that had moved out of the state are coming back and there will be strictest vigil along the border”.

A BSF spokesman said that Deputy Inspector General of BSF S.K. Sinha, who was present in the meeting, mentioned that the availability of manpower on the border has been affected due to the recent parliamentary election and the deployment of BSF troops in strife-torn Manipur.

Sinha assured that concerted efforts with all agencies would yield positive results.

“Identifying and acting against touts would reduce infiltration incidents. Sinha also informed that the BSF is in the process of installing electronic gadgets for border surveillance at vulnerable patches. Several other issues were also discussed during the meeting,” the BSF spokesman said.

Tripura Chief Secretary J.K. Sinha, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anurag and other officials were present in the meeting.

Around 100 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, were arrested at Agartala railway station for entering India without any valid travel documents during the past two months. A huge number of Rohingyas were also arrested in Agartala Railway Station and different parts of Tripura in the recent past after they illegally entered Tripura from Bangladesh.

At least 16 Rohingyas, including seven women, were arrested in Tripura for allegedly entering India from Bangladesh without valid documents, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, police apprehended 11 suspected Rohingyas at Dharmanagar Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) in North Tripura district on Thursday. In a separate incident in North Tripura’s Churaibari area, police intercepted a Guwahati-bound bus and requested passengers to verify their identities. Five Rohingyas among them failed to produce nationality proof, a senior officer said.