Kolkata: With the long-awaited swapping of enclaves between India and Bangladesh now complete, ensuring security so that these areas do not become a hub of anti- national activities seems to be of prime concern of security agencies.
"Security in those enclaves which are now part of India is of topmost priority to check illegal entrants from Bangladesh or JMB modules operating in Bengal...," Pradip Bhattacharya, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, told PTI.
"I have already written to the Union Home Ministry that security in coordination with IB, BSF and state police should be strengthened so that anti-national elements can't use this as an opportunity. I have serious apprehensions regarding this issue," he said.
Bhattacharya's concern was echoed by a senior official of State Intelligence Bureau, who said it is already on the job to collect ground zero intelligence on this matter.
"Obviously security is a concern when you have such a porous border. We have earmarked three areas from where the residents from Indian enclaves in Bangladesh will be entering as of now. We also have a set up our camp in the areas to ensure a strict vigil and have regular reports of ground level situation," a senior state IB official said on the condition of anonymity.
The IB official said that the state security agencies along with central agencies including BSF are working in coordination to ensure proper security mechanism to be put in place so that the enclaves, which for long has been devoid of any proper nationality, doesn't turn into a hot bed of anti-India activities.
Bangladesh and India exchanged 162 adversely-held enclaves on August 1 at the stroke of midnight, ending one of the world's most complex border disputes that had lingered since seven decades. One hundred and eleven Indian enclaves measuring 17,160 acres became Bangladesh territory and similarly, 51 Bangladesh enclaves measuring 7,110 acres became Indian territory. All the Indian enclaves are located in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.
The exchange of enclaves was made possible under the Land Boundary Agreement signed between the two countries recently.
