Tripura shares an open and porous international border of 856 km with Bangladesh. Because of this, extremists groups that were operating in Tripura were able to function from camps/hideouts in Bangladesh. These extremists would infiltrate the border and create enormous problems by way of abduction, extortions and assaults. Coupled with this was the problem of illegal migrants. The Tripura Government took up these issues with the Centre and urged it to effectively seal the border and mount pressure on Bangladesh to dismantle the bases of the banned militant outfits and handover the extremists. The Centre has been persuading the matters with its counterparts but the response from Bangladesh is negative because of diplomatic reasons. Camps/hideouts of the militant organisation still exist in Bangladesh which is a cause of serious concern not only for regional security but also for national security. The Government of Tripura is alert about the situation and does not suffer from any complacency.

As far as sealing of the border is concerned, the Government of India took up fencing due to the Tripura Government’s incessant endeavour. However, there are quite a few problems with border fencing. Only 65 per cent of fencing has been completed and the quality is unsatisfactory. Besides, the strength of BSF personnel needs to be increased to enable effective border patrolling.

Moreover, bulk of the problem that Tripura now faces can be traced to the Partition of the country in 1947. Due to Partition, Tripura faced a disadvantage of location as three fourths of her sides were surrounded by Bangladesh. All the critical infrastructure like roads, railways and trading centres fell on Bangladesh’s side. This resulted in Tripura being a land locked state, making connectivity a vital issue.

... contd.