REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
Guwahati, Nov 22: The Border Police Force has intensified the drive to detect foreigners illegally entering Assam, and so far this year around 180 Bangladesh nationals have been pushed back. Among them, 144 were pushed back through the India-Bangladesh border in Sribhumi district.
Police sources told The Assam Tribune that extra vigil has to be made along the border as, because of the changed situation in Bangladesh, radical elements can also try to sneak into India along with common Bangladesh nationals. Sources said that as Assam is almost "saturated" and the situation is not very favourable for Bangladesh nationals to stay here, the infiltrators are trying to go to South India to work in different factories. Sources revealed that a large number of factories in Bangladesh have been closed following the unrest in that country, making a huge number of people jobless. That is why people from Bangladesh are trying to sneak into India. However, most of the Bangladesh nationals caught and pushed back by Assam Police entered India via Tripura, and they were travelling through Assam by bus or train. Sources added that they did not have any intention of staying in Assam.
On the efforts of the Border Police Force to detect foreigners living in the state, sources said that the border police personnel work under the Superintendents of Police of the districts. There was a time when the border police personnel were also used in law and order duties. Now the situation has been reversed as militancy is on the wane and the normal police personnel also help out the border police to detect foreigners.
"The detection of foreigners slowed down during the preparation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), as everyone expected that the NRC would make it easier to detect foreigners. But with the fate of the NRC remaining uncertain, steps to detect foreigners have started again," police said.
Although the Border Police is responsible for guarding the international Border Security Force (BSF), and the force has 91 border outposts to guard the Assam-Bangladesh border. Considering the gravity of the situation, a second line of defence comprising personnel of the Border Police Force is also functioning along the border. The second line of defence has 14 border outposts—four in the Dhubri district, six in Sribhumi district, and two each in South Salmara and Cachar districts. Apart from those, the border police also have 14 patrol posts—eight in Sribhumi, four in Dhubri, and two in South Salmara. The job of the personnel deployed in these posts is to detect foreigners who manage to sneak past the first line of defence, that is the BSF. Though the major part of the Assam-Bangladesh border is fenced, the main area of concern is the 66 km of riverine international border, as there is no physical barrier in that area. However, the BSF personnel carry out regular patrolling in the area, and technological solutions are also used to check infiltration.
By-
R Dutta Choudhury
