AGARTALA, August 10 (TIWN): Even as almost 92 per cent of the fencing along the India-Bangladesh border has been completed, work at several places has been hampered by delayed land acquisition, pending wildlife clearance and protests by locals.

Close to 115.28 km remain unfenced because of pending land acquisition and public protests. This was admitted in assembly by chief minister Manik Sarkar, who is holding the charge of Home Department.   

The  unfenced district are Gomati – 6.72 km. Unakoti – 0.549 km, Khowai – 0.744 km, North Tripura – 21.65 km, South Tripura – 20.19 km, Sepahijala – 12.91 km, Dhalai – 52 km and west Tripura 0.500 km stated  Sarkar.

The Indian side of the Indo-Bangladesh border passes through West Bengal (2216.7 Km), Assam (263 Km),Meghalaya (443 Km), Tripura (856 Km) and Mizoram (318 Km). The entire stretch consists of plain, riverine, hilly/jungle and with hardly any natural obstacles. The area is heavily populated, and the cultivation is carried out till the last inch of the border.

The Indo-Bangladesh border is marked by a high degree of porosity and checking illegal cross border activities has been a challenging proposition. The main problem is of illegal migration from Bangladesh into India. In order to prevent illegal immigration and other anti-national activities from across the border, the Government of India had sanctioned the construction of border roads and fencing in two phases.

 Due to fencing as many as 8,744 houses of Indian residents were fenced out and 5,691 of them had been provided houses in nearby places under the Indira Awas Yojana, but, if the other families demand houses to the state government, the state government would o provide houses for them in a phased manner.