Data on Karimganj border

From Assam Sentinel

From our Staff Reporter SILCHAR, Aug 10: Illegal immigration from Bangladesh through porous border might have been the epicenter of State’s politics, but how sincere was the Governments, both in Dispur and Delhi, to solve the problem permanently? The question assumed significance as the Centre and State Government had apparently contradictory statistics and data regarding the sensitive Indo-Bangla border at Karimganj. Here are some instance which once again proved that both Dispur and Delhi were not at all serious for solving the infiltration problem as well as towards border fencing. Responding to some queries, though RTI by Joy Sankar Bhattacharjee, a Delhi-based retired bank employee who originally belonged to Karimganj, SM Sahai, Director, Border Management under Home Ministry states that, Indo-Bangla border in Karimganj district stretched around 87.600 km, out of which 47.200 km was land and rest 40.400 km was riverine border. Sahai claimed that the BSF had been manning 87.600 km. But surprisingly, the Karimganj district administration in a reply, signed by HZ Hazarika, ADC, to Bhattacharjee stated that total length of Indo-Bangla border in the district was 105.217 km out of which 69.867 km was land and 35.85 km was riverine border. Hazarika further added that out of 69.867 km land border, barbed fencing had been completed for 68.250 km, single type for 49.600 km and composite type for 18.650. Out of 35.80 km riverine border, possession of required land for 29.50 km length had been handed over to the National Building Construction Company (NBCC), the company authorized by the Union Government for Border Fencing. On the other hand, the NBCC in its reply to Bhattacharjee said, total length allotted to it for fencing work was 35 km in second phase and 29.015 km in the third phase. Rs 54.63 crore and Rs 13.99 crore had been spent till September 30, 2009 for these two phases respectively. NBCC admitted that, till now there had been a single visit by an officer in the rank of Secretary from the Border Management Division of Ministry of Home Affairs. State’s Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman had visited thrice while Principal Secretary of the Assam Government along with AASU delegates visited once. Annual budget from phase II was Rs 64.30 crore and for phase III it was Rs 29.55 crore, the NBCC communique stated. Now the inevitable question was, why there was this difference regarding the actual length of border in the version of the State and Central Government? Is it an indictor of corrupt practise in fencing work?