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Call for medical facilities along border

Kolkata: Medical facilities should be provided along the Bangladesh border to prevent regular immigrants from overstaying, Somesh Goyal, outgoing Inspector-General of the South Bengal frontier of Border Security Force, said here on Tuesday.

“More than two lakh people coming in from Bangladesh have not returned in the last 20 years,” he said at a press conference. “Most of the regular immigrants come seeking medical treatment but they do not have any papers for hotel or hospital reservations,” he added.

Mr. Goyal said he had informally suggested setting up a medical Special Economic Zone or medical parks along the border area.

The BSF has also decided to keep a census of the ISI operatives coming from Bangladesh to India. “We have arrested 13 militants in the last two years who had links with jehadi organisations of various shades, both Pakistan and Bangladesh based,” he said. Militants were coming mainly through the riverine areas and also through land points near Bongaon. There were, however, no militant camps across the frontier in the area.

“It is very difficult to check militants or illegal immigration without fencing,” Mr. Goyal said. Of the 1,145 km under the south Bengal frontier, only 531 km was fenced.

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