Fencing threatens to oust 10000 families

Fencing threatens to oust 10000 families
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Agartala, June 11: The barbed wire fencing along Tripura’s 856-km-long border with Bangladesh is creating more problems than offering solutions.
The state government today voiced concern over the plight of 3,475 below poverty line (BPL) families displaced by fencing and 8,730 families owning agricultural lands 150 yards within Indian territory from the Zero Line of the border.
“We have urged the Centre for Rs 93 crore to pay compensation to the displaced families but have not received the amount. Notwithstanding assurances given by the director-general of the BSF, its jawans, on the other hand, continue to create problems in opening and closing the gates, affecting the farmers’ movements,” chief minister Manik Sarkar said in the Assembly today.
He was replying to a call attention motion moved by the leader of the Opposition Ratanlal Nath .More than 10,000 acres of agricultural land had fallen between the fencing and the Zero Line of the border, Sarkar said.