Bangladesh impedes border fence work at 7 points

Border tensions between India and Bangladesh have escalated since August 5, when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India, with Bangladesh border forces opposing previously agreed construction work at multiple locations along the international boundary, officials aware of the matter have said.

- Prawesh Lama

NEW DELHI:

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has halted Border Security Force (BSF) construction at "6-7 different places" in North and South Bengal frontiers where work was mutually agreed upon under the previous government, officials said on condition of anonymity.

"Each work was discussed between the two border guarding forces and mutually agreed. The approvals were taken during the regime of the previous government. But since August 5, the jawans on their side of the border are unnecessarily trying to disrupt the construction work," said an officer at BSF's South Bengal frontier headquarters in Kolkata.

A recent flashpoint emerged at Sabdalpur village in Malda, where construction plans were shared four years ago. "It is a single-row fence within 150m of the border pillar so consent had been taken from BGB," the officer said.