Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Kolkata, Nov 13 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit on border fencing work in the India-Bangladesh border areas in the state.
The high court’s direction came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought fencing along several hundred kilometers of the India-Bangladesh border.
On Thursday, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen ordered the state to record its statement through an affidavit within 15 days.
West Bengal has a border area of 2,217 km with Bangladesh.
A large part of the border (569 km) is unfenced. As a result, infiltration and smuggling continue to happen openly.
According to petitioner Subrata Saha, the situation on the India-Bangladesh border is dangerous from national security point of view.
He has been working as an army officer for a long time and is worried about this situation.
He claimed that since 2016, there is continuous smuggling of drugs, cows, gold and fake notes into the state through the India-Bangladesh border.
Due to delay in the land acquisition process in the state, fencing of the border area is not being done.
The petitioner claimed that the Central government has agreed to allocate funds, but there is a lack of proactive steps taken by the state.
Therefore, the petitioner was forced to file a PIL.
Additional Solicitor General Ashok Chakraborty, representing the Centre, said the state government was not cooperating with the Central government in this regard.
As a result, the border fencing work has come to a halt.
After hearing the arguments, the High Court sought an affidavit from the state government on this matter within 15 days.
–IANS
sch/khz