Forces capable of tackling border issues a necessity: Bengal govt tells Rajnath

Kolkata: The state government has urged Union Home minister Rajnath Singh to ensure that the Central forces capable of tackling the border related issues are deployed considering the crucial geographical location of Bengal.

Bengal, which also shares international border with Nepal and Bhutan besides Bangladesh, is situated in such a location that forces having all necessary infrastructure need to be deployed.

Sources said that keeping aside the political aspect of Darjeeling, the necessity to deploy well equipped forces in areas along the Indo-Nepal border in the Hills has cropped up in the mee- ting at Nabannda Sabhaghar on Thursday in which the Union Home minister held a review meeting over issues related to the Indo-Bangladesh border.

It has been discussed that the Indo-Nepal border is also vulnerable to infiltration as people from the neighbouring country may use the route through Nepal to enter India.

Sources said Central government officials assured that the matter will be looked into.

At the same time, the state government has also assured all support in tackling the situation.

It may be mentioned that there had been repeated incidents of violence in Darjeeling and support of some extremist group from a neighbouring country to carry out the crime had come to light.

Moreover, during the Darjeeling unrest, there was also an issue over the withdrawal of Central forces from the Hills.

In October, the state government had received a letter from the Centre, stating that 10 out of 15 companies of Central forces were to be withdrawn from the Hills. The 10 included 7 companies of CRPF.

Finally, only 7 of the 15 companies were withdrawn, following an order of the Supreme Court as the forces had to be sent on election duties.

Though the situation in the Hills has normalised, the necessity to deploy well equipped forces in the bordering areas has been elaborately discussed in the meeting.