Fencing border with Bangladesh a priority for India: Amit Shah

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah today said fencing and setting up of anti-infiltration infrastructure along the Bangladesh border is a priority for his government and that West Bengal authorities would help those who crossed into India illegally from that country if they return home voluntarily.

Speaking at an event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, he alleged that during the West Bengal assembly elections, BJP had promised that once the government was formed in West Bengal, the work of fencing the Bangladesh border would begin immediately.

Shah said, "Fencing and developing anti-infiltration infrastructure along the Bangladesh border is a priority of our government."

He said West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has handed over 600 hectares of land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within seven days of forming the government. 

Shah also said 121 hectares of land for the Chicken's Neck Corridor had also been handed over to the government of India. 

The minister claimed that during the rule of the previous government in Bengal, infiltration used to take place every day but now infiltrators have started returning on their own.

Shah was apparently referring to hundreds of people, stated to be undocumented immigrants, thronging the Hakimpur border gate with Bangladesh on Tuesday seeking to return home following reports that the West Bengal government would soon launch a drive against "infiltrators."    

He said the government wants those who entered India illegally to return to the places from where they came. 

"If they return voluntarily, the West Bengal government will neither file cases against them nor hinder their return and will instead assist them in going back," Shah added.

He expressed the hope that "infiltrators" would return on their own even before the identification campaign begins. 

Shah reiterated that the government is committed to identifying and expelling every infiltrator from the country.