BRO to fence major portion of India-Myanmar border, says top officials

GUWAHATI: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will fence a major portion of the strategic India-Myanmar border, and a 10-km stretch in Manipur has already been covered, a senior official said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified around 1,700 km of fencing that needs to be done, BRO’s Additional Director General (East) PKH Singh said.

The organisation has already finished fencing 10 km along the border in Manipur’s Moreh, which was handed over to the Assam Rifles, Singh said in an interview.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said the Centre has decided that the India-Myanmar border will be protected by barbed fencing like the India-Bangladesh border, and the government was rethinking the free movement agreement with Myanmar.

Four Indian states Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share a 1,643-km border with Myanmar. Singh said the next 80-km stretch in Manipur has also been identified and the detailed project report (DPR) submitted to the ministry.

Fencing the remaining 250 km, along with its approach roads, is in the planning stage with the DPR under preparation.

“The fencing of the India-Myanmar border is an important project for the BRO, which is now coming up in Moreh. The area around this border has been unfenced since long, and there was a need to check the activities around it,” the ADG said.

The organisation was earlier involved in fencing the India-Bangladesh border along with the BSF, he said.

Besides, the BRO has also been entrusted with 531 km out of the 1,748-km of the Frontier Highway, comprising the India-China-Myanmar border, the ADG said.