Tensions simmer at Bengal's border as India, B'desh spar over frontier fencing

Uttam Mondal, 41, a farmer from Sabdalpur village in West Bengal's Malda district, was still all charged up as he narrated details of the January 5 face-off between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that saw villagers from the bordering areas of both countries gathering at the spot as tensions ran high over the construction of a fence on the Indian side along the Indo-Bangla border.

- Joydeep Thakur

Uttam Mondal, 41, a farmer from Sabdalpur village in West Bengal's Malda district, was still all charged up as he narrated details of the January 5 face-off between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that saw villagers from the bordering areas of both countries gathering at the spot as tensions ran high over the construction of a fence on the Indian side along the Indo-Bangla border.

"I haven't seen anything of this sort in my life. Hundreds of villagers from Sabdalpur and Sukhdevpur gathered on the road, which runs along the border fence, chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai," Mondol said, waving his arms passionately as he described the incident that happened in the two villages standing right on the edge of the Indo-Bangla border, around 50km south of Malda town.

"Fencing already exists along the border in this area, barring a small stretch of 1.2km. BSF was trying to install the fences to plug the gap, when BGB objected. The situation flared up when a few hundred Bangladeshi villagers intervened and tried to confront BSF. When the news reached us, we all took up whatever arms we could find to confront them and help BSF," added Jiten Mondal, 26.

BSF officials explained that if any permanent structure, such as a border fence, has to come up within 150 yards of the international border, it has to be agreed upon by the border guarding agencies of both countries after a joint verification.

HT visited the spot to find out what prompted BSF to construct a fence within 150 yards of the border (although it is on Indian land). Much of this area is low-lying, and is a wetland for most of the year. The fencing couldn't have come up on this land forcing the BSF to construct the fence closer to the border.