GUWAHATI, Nov 23 � Smuggling in of fake Indian currency notes to India by the forces inimical to the interests of the country has become a major cause of concern and the border guarding forces of both India and Bangladesh have decided to take strong measures to deal with the problem.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Meghalaya Frontier, Sudesh Kumar said that the issue was discussed in the recently held meeting between the BSF and the Border Guards, Bangladesh, in Sylhet. He admitted that smuggling in of fake currency notes is a matter of serious concern as by doing do, anti-India forces are trying to destabilise the economy of India. He revealed that from time to time, the BSF manages to arrest smugglers involved in fake currency notes. But, at the same time, he admitted that most of the persons arrested by the BSF are just couriers, while the main kingpins of the racket are operating from outside the country.
The BSF officer said that according to information available, the fake currency notes pumped in to India are not manufactured in Bangladesh and the country is only being used as a transit point. Because of India�s concerns, the Government of Bangladesh has already constituted a task force to launch a crackdown on the persons involved in fake currency racket.
Meanwhile, the BSF IG said that apart from the fake currency smuggling, another major area of concern is the slow progress of construction of fencing along the international border in Meghalaya. The smugglers take advantage of lack of fencing to smuggle out items like forest produce to Bangladesh. He revealed that Meghalaya has more than 400 kilometers of border with Bangladesh and so far, the construction of fencing has not even started in more than a hundred kilometers because of the failure of the State Government to expedite the process of land acquisition. The matter is pending for the past nine years as the Meghalaya Government has not been able to complete the process of land acquisition. There are places where people are living right up to the zero line and the Government would have to relocate such people. The BSF has already taken up the issue of construction of single line fencing within 150 yards of the international border in areas where the people are living near the border and the neighbouring country has accepted the proposal on principle.
Another major problem faced by the BSF, particularly in the Tura area, is the movement of herds of wild elephants. Kumar said that the BSF has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs for taking special measures in the elephant movement corridors as the elephants frequently damage the fencing and even attack BSF personnel.
Kumar further revealed that the BSF submitted a list of 57 hideouts of the militants belonging to the outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), GNLA, NDFB, NLFT, HNLC etc in the territory of Bangladesh in the recent meeting and requested the border guarding force of the neighbouring country to take effective measures to deal with the militants. The militants now do not have full fledged camps in Bangladesh but they still have hideouts, he added.
