70 pc of India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya fenced: BSF

Seventy per cent of the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya has been fenced, a senior BSFofficial said here on Friday.

Meghalaya Frontier BSF Inspector General Hardeep Singhsaid that the remaining work is also expected to be completedsoon but clearance from the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) isrequired for fencing 13 stretches.

''Of Meghalaya's 443-km international border withBangladesh, nearly 70 per cent has been fenced. Work is inprogress in the unfenced stretches,'' he said.

Clearance is required from the BGB for fencing 13stretches as these areas fall within 150 yards of the zeroline, he said.

''We have already taken up the matter with them andhope to receive the clearance very soon after which the entireborder will be fenced,'' Singh said.

Over 10,000 cattle and other items worth Rs 40 crorewere seized along the border in the last one year, the BSF IGsaid.

He said smugglers use unfenced stretches along theborder to smuggle cattle and other items but BSF hasheightened its vigil.

Singh, however, denied the presence of militant campsfrom across Northeast and Meghalaya in particular inneighbouring Bangladesh.

''There is no specific input about the presence ofcamps of insurgent outfits from the Northeast in Bangladesh.

The BGB had informed us that there is no such camp,'' he said.

PTI JOPACD ACD