Meghalaya govt writes to Centre for fencing Bangladesh border

Meghalaya Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong said that some issues related to the alignment of the fencing needs to be solved

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong has said that the state government has written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting the Centre to fence the zero line of the international border with Bangladesh but added that there were issues related to the alignment of the fencing that needs to be solved.

Speaking to media, Tynsong said, “Our stand is very clear, we want to construct the fencing. There were, however, some issues where the alignment of the fencing goes beyond the agricultural land of the land owner or the community land. In such cases the village administration opposes the fencing and writes to the Central Government to make exceptions. The State Government has written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs to complete the fencing in whatever possible way but it should be close to the zero point between Bangladesh and India.”

He added that people living in border areas would also welcome the fencing but there is no way they would allow the fencing to go through the middle of the village or through the middle of the farm lands of the concerned farmers. He said that the State Government has taken up this issue with the Central Government.

Tynsong said that such concerns have been flagged by people along the stretch of Amlarem civil sub-division in West Jaintia Hills and East Khasi Hills.

Meghalaya shares a 443-kilometre-long boundary with Bangladesh.

Meghalaya government’s letter comes amid the Centre announcing its plans to seal the India-Myanmar border. India shares a 1643 km long border with Myanmar that runs along the borders of four north-eastern states – Arunachal (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) and Myanmar’s Sagaing Region and Chin State.

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