India and Bangladesh have started work on redrawing part of the border between the two countries.
KOLKATA: India and Bangladesh have started work on redrawing part of the border between the two countries. The steady erosion of the banks of Mahananda river in Malda district in India and change in the course of the river have washed away border demarcations in the region.
In Malda more than 175 kms of border demarcation has been washed away by erosion of the river bank and change in its course.
Officers of the Border Security Force (BSF) told DNA, that the two-day long firing on August 19 and 20 between border guards of the two country was largely because demarcation of the border did not exist anymore. Officers said a visible border was just not evident in the Rampara region in Malda and Jilabari area on the Bangladesh side where the firings took place.
The Indian and Bangladesh governments have now decided to form a joint committee that will re-draw the borders wherever necessary. This committee will start work by end-September 2005.
To begin with the Indian government will conduct a survey before forwarding its proposals to the Bangladesh government, following which the joint committee will be formed to give the border a new shape.
An urgent meeting in this regard has been convened on Thursday, September 1. The Deputy Inspector General (Malda Range) of Border Security Force (BSF), Om Prakash Gaur, the Malda district magistrate, Avijit Chowdhury and senior officials of Survey of India will attend the meeting.
The last such survey was conducted in 2002 and there had been several recommendations on fresh demarcation of the border but these were not implemented. BSF sources said that the recent cross border firing, one of the fiercest exchanges ever has given a push for an immediate solution to the border demarcation issue. Five Indian states namely share a total of 4,984 km border with Bangladesh.
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