Physical barriers set up across Indo-Bangladesh Border: Rijiju

New Delhi [India], August 2 (ANI): Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said that about 3004 km stretch along the Indo-Bangladesh Border has been covered by physical barriers. "About 3004 km stretch along the Indo-Bangladesh Border has been covered by physical barriers. The balance border is covered by day & night patrolling, Ambush/Nakas, special operations, usage of force multipliers like high-tech surveillance equipments, Hand Held Thermal Imager (HHTI), improvised methods, etc," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to question by Congress MP Ranee Narah in the Rajya Sabha He also said that Rs. 50 crore budget has been allocated for each floodlight work and road work along Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) for the financial year 2017-18 "The budget allocation is Rs. 50 Crore each for floodlight work and road work along Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) for the financial year 2017-18. During 2017-18, an expenditure of Rs. 7.97 Crore for border roads and Rs. 6.06 Crore for border floodlight have been incurred by construction agencies along IBB," he said. Rijiju noted those totals 1181 border out posts are held along IBB. Bangladesh and India share a 4,096 km international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in Bengal. In a written reply in Rajya Sabha today, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that setting up of Border Haats is one of the methods for facilitating and increasing border trade across neighbouring countries. "Currently four Border Haats are operational along India-Bangladesh border. Two Border Haats are located in Meghalaya at Kalaichar and Balat and two are located in Tripura at Srinagar and Kamalasagar. In addition to the four functional Border Haats, Government of India and Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh have agreed to set up six more border haats-two in Tripura and four in Meghalaya," she said. "Government of India has also executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of the Republic of Union of Myanmar under which Border Haats are to be set up at nine mutually agreed locations," she added. (ANI)