After dilly-dallying for two years, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has agreed to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s request and has granted the Centre 300 acres of land for barbed wire fencing along the India-Bangladesh border.

The land area was requested by the Centre from the West Bengal government to strengthen the border grid and prevent illegal infiltration by the Bangladeshis and the Rohingyas. Additionally, other cross-border criminal activities like smuggling, human trafficking, drug peddling, cattle smuggling, arms export by insurgents etc will also be curbed.

The final decision came after the Union Home Minister wrote to Ms Banerjee asking her to look into the matter on a priority basis to hasten the procedure of the land takeover.

The border between India and Bangladesh stretches to 4,096-km in which West Bengal has a share of 2,216 km.

Paying special attention to projects being undertaken along the international borders, Singh reviewed the progress along borders of China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar as reported by TIE.

The ongoing projects executed by the Land Ports Authority of India and the border management division under the Home Ministry was checked upon by the Home Minister.

According to a statement by the ministry, out of seven approved projects, integrated check posts (ICPs) at five border-crossing points have been completed.

Terminals for seamless movement of goods and people at ICPs at Raxaul and Jogbani on India-Nepal border, Petrapole and Agartala ICPs on India-Bangladesh border and Attari ICP on India-Pakistan border have been made functional, according to the ministry.