Illegal Migration, Cross-Border Activities Are Major Challenges Along Indo-B’desh Border: MHA

Illegal migration and cross-border activities are major challenges along the India-Bangladesh border, which has a “high degree of porosity,” according to a report from the Union Home Ministry.

The total length of the India-Bangladesh border is more than 4,000 kilometres, with 3,145 kilometres covered by physical fencing and the remainder planned to be covered by physical and non-physical barriers.

According to the Union Home Ministry’s annual report for 2021-22, the Indo-Bangladesh border is marked by a high degree of porosity and the checking of illegal cross-border activities and illegal migration from Bangladesh to India have been major challenges.

In July this year, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that in the previous five years, 2,399 Bangladeshi nationals were found using fraudulently obtained Indian documents.

He said that the Centre had directed state governments to take immediate action to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants in India.

Rai added that the states had also been advised to share the information of illegal migrants who had obtained Aadhaar cards in error in order to pursue appropriate legal action.

Former Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said in Parliament in 2016 that there are around 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying in India, based on available information.

According to the home ministry's annual report, the government is building a fence along the India-Bangladesh border to prevent infiltration, smuggling and other anti-national activities from across the border.

“In order to prevent illegal migration and illegal activities, including anti-national activities from across the border,” it added that all ongoing work is expected to be completed by March 2024.

The non-physical barrier will be made up of technological solutions and permission has been granted to replace the old fence with a new one.

According to the report, there have been some issues with the construction of fencing in certain stretches of this border due to riverine and low-lying areas, habitations within 150 yards of the border, pending land acquisition cases and border population protests, which have delayed the project’s completion.

Border roads have been built to improve communication and operational mobility in border areas, according to the report.

So far, 3,750 km of border roads have been built out of a total length of 4,223 km. The ongoing work is expected to be finished by March 2024.

The government has decided to install floodlights along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram and Tripura. 2,682 km of border floodlighting work has been completed out of the total of 3,077 km authorised. The remaining work is scheduled to be completed by March 2023.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's then-prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said that if he were elected, Bangladeshis illegally residing in India would be deported.

Assam and West Bengal are thought to be the hardest hit by alleged illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.