Some illegal settlers have left for Bangladesh: BSF IG Kuldeep Saini

Staff Correspondent

Shillong: The Inspector General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Meghalaya Frontier Kuldeep Saini on Friday said that inputs suggested that some illegal Bangladeshis have gone back to their own country after the update of the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam. Saini was answering queries by newsmen during a press conference and it comes close on the heels of the Director General of The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) Major General Shafeenul Islam statement in Dhaka that 445 Bangladeshi nationals have been apprehended after sneaking back from India.

“We have information that the fear of NRC has made a sizable number of illegal Bangladeshi settlers to leave India”, stated the Inspector General (IG) even as he added that there has been no a single case of such exfiltration from Meghalaya.

The Meghalaya Frontier Chief of the BSF also said that cattle smuggling to Bangladesh is still a concern. He also informed that there are around 11,000 cattle heads seized from the smuggling syndicate that are lying in various border outposts. Asked on how do the border troops ensure that the seized cattle heads which are then auctioned by the district administration does not reach the same destination again, Saini informed that steps are taken to make markings on the oxens and the close co-ordination with the district police has made us curb the menace to a great extent. While it is a known fact that maintaining the seized cattle heads has been a headache to the BSF, he also informed that the district administration intervention by using the local populace (through some form of remunerations) has slightly eased the burden on the men guarding the borders.

On the use of drones to aid the troops in better management, the Inspector General said, “We have made our own projections, but I will not be able to give a timeline on their induction in Meghalaya”. It may be mentioned that there is a 77- km of unfenced stretch of the border which are susceptible to many illegal activities.

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