TIWN
AGARTALA, June 4 (TIWN): Weakness of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to address issues relating to barbed wire fencing in the Indo-Bangla international border in Tripura resulted in repeated infiltrations, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said here today.“Fencing construction agencies declined to construct fence at the common rate. We have approached the Ministry of Home Affairs to revise the rate but weakness of MHA to address the issue has led to repeated incidents of infiltrationsâ€, Sarkar said.
Speaking to reporters in the sidelines of a media briefing at Agartala today, Chief Minister Sarkar said that hilly terrain like Gandacherra and Kanchanpur sub-divisions have different features from the plains and need different barbed wire fencing patterns.
The CM confirmed that there were several reports of infiltration, militant intrusions through the porous unfenced border in hilly terrains resulting in kidnapping of people from inside the Indian territory, confrontations with security force personnel etc.
Asked about his take on 250 Chakma and Tripuri tribal refugees who sought asylum in four villages of Gandacherra sub-division in Dhalai district, Sarkar said that Tripura had requested the Government of Bangladesh and Indian High Commission in Dhaka to initiate process to repatriate the asylum seekers.
“Chief Secretary Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panda was asked to get in touch with the Bangladesh High Commission and Government of Bangladesh to repatriate the asylum seekers. We have asked the Chief Secretary to escalate talks for speedy repatriation of refugees”, he added.
Over 250 men, women and children from ninety families of Chakma and Tripuri tribes on Tuesday took shelter in four villages of Gandachara sub-division along the international border. The influx started since Monday. The asylum seekers, mostly from Buddhist and Hindu communities, fled their residences after ethnic sentiment-based attacks started on their homes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
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