AGARTALA, April 9 - Even as Tripura Government is moving to complete the barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Bangla border, over 9 km international border still remains unfenced in Sepahijala district, according to sources.
Of the total unfenced patches, around 7.096 km border is supposed to get single row fencing as it is proposed to come up along the zero line. The decision to have single row fencing has been taken to save several houses and religious structures at NC Nagar and its adjacent areas.
As per international convention, consent of neighbouring country is required to undertake any construction work along zero line of the international border.
Sources said, the BSF has already sent a proposal to allow fencing along zero line in some patches of the international border to Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) but no response has been received from Dhaka yet.
When contacted, District Magistrate (DM) PK Chakravarty on Monday admitted existence of unfenced border of around 9.136 km in Sepahijala district.
�The BSF authority has sought its Bangladesh counterpart�s permission to push the fencing work in the unfenced borderline in Sonamura subdivision around 10 months back. There has been no reply from BGB which has resulted in a stalemate in the fencing work�, he informed.
The DM claimed steps were taken to construct composite fencing in 2.220 km borderline at the earliest but there had been resistance from vested interests in some areas. �We are giving priority to complete fencing work as early as possible to ensure fullproof security along the international border�, he added.
Of the total 856 km international border in the State, around 72 km Indo-Bangla border still remains unfenced due to various reasons � hostile geographical condition, local opposition and opposition from Bangladesh side.
The State Government wants to expedite fencing work to prevent trans border crime along the Indo-Bangla border. During Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb�s meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi, the issue of fencing work came up for discussion. The Centre is strongly in favour of completing the fencing work with Bangladesh at the earliest to stop cross border crimes in Tripura.
