Suvendu Adhikari approves land transfer to BSF for fencing on Bangladesh border

The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has decided to hand over land to India's Border Security Force (BSF) for the construction of fencing along the Bangladesh border.

The decision was taken during the first cabinet meeting on Monday, May 11.

Suvendu Adhikari announced that the West Bengal government will transfer the required land to the BSF within 45 days.

"The demographic composition of the state has changed. On the very first day of assuming responsibility, we have granted approval to hand over land to the central home ministry and the BSF. The Land and Revenue Secretary and the Chief Secretary have been assigned responsibility. The BSF will receive the required land within 45 days," the chief minister told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

The issue of fencing along the Bangladesh border was a major campaign issue for the BJP in the recent assembly election. The party had accused the previous Trinamool Congress government of leaving the international border unsecured, alleging that due to weak border security, many people had infiltrated illegally from Bangladesh and were given shelter by the TMC for electoral gain.

India shares a total of 4,096.7 kilometres of border with Bangladesh, of which over 2,216 kilometres lie along West Bengal.

Earlier, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah had repeatedly expressed frustration over the state government's failure to provide land to the BSF for border fencing. With the BJP coming to power in West Bengal for the first time, the cabinet's very first meeting reversed the previous government's stance.

The BJP won 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, handing a massive defeat to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and ending its 15-year rule. Suvendu Adhikari, 55, a former influential TMC leader who led the BJP's campaign from the front, even defeated Mamata Banerjee in her own stronghold of Bhabanipur.