Gandhinagar/Kolkata, May 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has congratulated Suvendu Adhikari for facilitating the transfer of 600 hectares of land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within seven days, aimed at accelerating border fencing work along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
Addressing a public gathering in Gujarat, Shah recalled the BJP’s election promise to expedite fencing along the Bangladesh border if entrusted with governance in West Bengal. He said the government had acted swiftly on that commitment after assuming office.
“We had promised during the election campaign that if people gave us the responsibility of governance, work on fencing along the Bangladesh border would begin within a few days,” Shah said. He added that the transfer of land would help speed up the construction of border fencing in sensitive areas.
The Home Minister specifically praised Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, stating that 600 hectares of land had been handed over to the BSF within just seven days. He further noted that an additional 121 hectares of land in the strategically important “Chicken’s Neck” corridor, also known as the Siliguri Corridor, had been transferred to the Central Government.
The land transfer forms part of the state government’s initiative to address long-pending issues related to border fencing along the India-Bangladesh frontier. Earlier this month, the West Bengal government had announced that land required for fencing would be transferred to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the BSF to strengthen border security infrastructure.
Shah also linked the development to the Centre’s broader efforts to strengthen border management and curb illegal infiltration. According to him, faster land acquisition and transfer would remove major hurdles that had delayed fencing work in several stretches of the international border.
The India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal is one of the country’s longest international boundaries, and border fencing has remained a key security issue due to concerns over illegal cross-border movement and smuggling. The latest transfer of land is expected to facilitate the completion of pending fencing projects in the state.
