By IANS
Agartala : India and Bangladesh have agreed to allow development projects on either side of the border although the two countries will not put up any defence installations close to the international boundary, officials said Friday.
“We have cleared some pending development projects on either side of the border which were stalled earlier with the two countries opposing such moves with the location of those projects very close to the border,” J.A. Khan, Border Security Force (BSF) Tripura frontier inspector general, said.
The projects include construction of embankments, bridges, market sheds and drinking water facilities. Several projects remained half-done for years after objections raised by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the BSF.
“BSF and BDR have resolved not to allow any defence or permanent constructions along the border and would follow the 1975 Bangladesh-India border guidelines,” Khan told journalists here.
Khan was in Dhaka earlier this week to attend a five-day border coordination conference. BDR Director General Major General Shakil Ahmed led the 22-member Bangladesh delegation while BSF Director General Ashish Kumar Mitra headed the 17-member Indian side at the conference.
“For the first time, the BDR officials have also agreed on the existence of Indian terrorist camps in their territory, especially in the hilly Khagrachari district in Bangladesh’s southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT),” the BSF commander said.
The BDR officials informed the BSF that they have shortage of security forces in the CHT areas. The BDR handed over a list of 1,591 Bangladeshi criminals reportedly hiding in India, while BSF’s list consisted of 141 Indian insurgent camps across the border.
Khan said joint patrolling by the BSF and the BDR along the border to prevent trans-border crimes, smuggling and cross-border movement of separatists was yielding positive results with the two sides sharing valuable information.
The two sides agreed to take stern action against smuggling of illegal arms, ammunition, explosives, fake currencies, drugs, cattle and food grains smuggling and infiltration.
India shares a 4,095 km long border with Bangladesh, including 2,216 km along West Bengal, 856 km along Tripura, 443 km along Meghalaya, 318 km along Mizoram and 262 km along Assam. A large stretch of the border remains unfenced.