India-Bangladesh border fortification: Why this Bengal village is living in fear and hope

GAIGHATA

The villagers of Gaighata, in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, live a stone’s throw away from Bangladesh. These days, they also live in anxiety. There have been whispers from other villages that the government could take away land under the border-fencing project.

Currently, a barbed-wire fence separates Gaighata from Bangladesh. It came up 10 years ago and runs 150m inside the international border. This fence is being replaced by one with a newer design, perhaps using concrete, and there will be more Border Security Force personnel to man it. There are also plans to build new border outposts, which has made the residents fearful of losing their land.

One of them is Gurudas Mondol. His father had come to Gaighata during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Over the years, he built homes for his four children, who still live here with their families. “The problem is that they will take our land and build a border,” says Mondol. “If the government takes the land, what can I do? Will I be able to stop them?”

The new BJP government in West Bengal has fast-tracked the promise of fortifying around 600km of unfenced border in the state, along with improving the current border. Till date, the state has handed over 1,027 acres to the BSF in nine districts to ramp up infrastructure of the BSF and the Sashastra Seema Bal, which fall under the Union home ministry.

“If they give us money, we can go elsewhere. There is no problem,” says Sutapa, Mondol’s daughter-in-law. She adds that the government had earlier measured their land, but she now hears that the new fence could be further in, which could affect their houses. “We cannot say anything before it happens,” she says.

Sadhana, Mondol’s second daughter-in-law, who lives next to Sutapa, questions whether the government would make alternative living arrangements if their land is taken. “If the government does not give us a place to stay, how will we survive? We are poor, we do not have money to go elsewhere and build a house,” she says.

They do, however, concede that security has improved ever since the barbed-wire fence was installed. Somnath Biswas, a 45-year-old daily-wage labourer, says he remembers people crossing over from Bangladesh to steal and go back unnoticed. Today, things are stricter, he says, adding that the BSF asks him about his whereabouts when he returns from work trips outside the village. “If the government wants to make alternate arrangements for us, then it is good,” he says. “Else, we will have to make some arrangements. Even if they give us money, where will we go for a roof above our head? My father and I were born here.”

Notably, the government has not yet asked anyone in Gaighata for their land. But it has done so in other districts, and the villagers have reportedly been compensated. Some neighbouring villagers have spooked those in Gaighata with speculation that their land will definitely be taken.

Says 68-year-old Shanti Bayen: “A thicker boundary wall will be good, but not if the government takes our land.” She lives with her sister Suniti. Both are unmarried and work as maids or in the fields during harvest. They say that, earlier, people from Bangladesh would cross over to India for work, creating hostility with the villagers of Gaighata. “Things are much better now,” says Shanti. “Earlier, cattle would pass, motorcycles, too. Security has improved with the new government.”

The BSF says that, after the BJP won the assembly elections earlier this year, infiltrators now have a psychological fear of crossing over. There is reportedly more cooperation between Central and state security forces now.

As per the BSF, when the force hands over on-ground information on criminals to the state police, action is taken quickly. This was apparently not the case earlier. The BJP and the BSF say Centre-state cooperation has improved in terms of procuring land and nabbing suspects.

The BSF also says that human trafficking has reduced significantly because of the Centre’s strict measures. As has gold smuggling across the border.

Cattle smuggling has apparently dropped from 5,000 animals caught in a day (between 2000 and 2010) to five now. Cattle were smuggled through water routes, which the BSF has foiled by digging trenches along the routes. These trenches are 100 metres inside the border.

Field operators give the list of cattle smugglers to top BSF officers and the state police. Apparently, the new state government has put a complete stop on illegal cattle markets.

The BSF says that it has, over the years, used barbed wiring for the border after understanding changing weather conditions and the terrain. But the bigger challenge, perhaps, has been securing the riverine border along the Sundarbans, which is a low-lying area dense with vegetation. As fencing is not an option here, the challenges become trickier.

Along this border, the BSF uses speedboats for patrolling. There are nine floating border outposts in the form of large vessels in the Sundarbans. Each floating outpost has four speedboats with surveillance equipment. These include binoculars, night-vision equipment and handheld thermal devices.

Joint operations with the forest department are undertaken to check poaching of valuable trees, and creeks are used to lay an ambush to catch infiltrators in sensitive areas. Ecological balance is also factored in while manning the border in the region.

The Union government and the BSF are working on improving technology along the riverine border—according to sources, the Centre has approved 90 observation posts in the region. Approvals for more speedboats is also on the cards.

Back in Gaighata, Paritosh Bose, a van driver, says he is happy with the government’s decision to strengthen the fence as long as his house is untouched. “My parents came from Bangladesh. We are three brothers and sisters; we were born here,” says the 42-year-old. “Where will we go if we are uprooted?”

A BSF personnel patrols the fence near his house. A large pond lies just beyond the fence; security here is being increased, especially post sunset. The thick vegetation and floating weeds make it difficult for BSF personnel to move around. In case reinforcements are needed, the force’s quarters is 500 metres away.

Gaighata is just one of the hundreds of villages along the border that will be affected by the fortification. And the process is expected to build on the continued progress over the last decade or so. But for villagers like Bose, the next few months will be ones filled with anxiety.