The border guarding forces of India and Bangladesh have taken a “momentous” decision to initiate joint civil works on five development projects along the 4,096 km of shared boundary which will help the local population on both sides, a senior officer said Wednesday.

At the end of their four-day biannual border talks conference that began on July 11 in Delhi, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) also said they are working independently and jointly to “reduce” the instances of killing of Bangladeshi nationals in the boundary area.

The issue of these killings, which the BSF has linked to miscreants and smugglers either attacking its personnel or indulging in other cross-border crimes, has been a major irritant between the two neighbors.

The 53rd edition of the conference was led by the chiefs or directors general (DsG) of the BSF and the BGB and ended with the signing of a ‘joint record of discussions at a BSF camp located in Chhawla area of the national capital.

“During this conference, in a momentous decision, that will have a profound positive impact on the lives of the population along the India-Bangladesh border, a total of five developmental projects were agreed upon, enhancing the joint efforts towards progress and prosperity in the region.”

“This decision is a significant step towards improving the overall quality of life and will serve to foster stronger bilateral trade and relations between the two countries,” the BSF said in a statement.

These five development projects are related to the construction of a bailey bridge, road repair, and the strengthening of the retaining walls along the border that runs on India’s eastern flank in five states of Assam, West Bengal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Tripura.

The two chiefs told a joint press conference they were taking a number of steps to ensure that incidents of killings on the border at the hands of the security forces are reduced.

Acting BSF DG Sujoy Lal Thaosen said his troops had to fire on miscreants “only as a last resort”. BGB DG Maj Gen AKM Nazmul Hasan said the issue was a “matter of great concern” for them and if the two sides worked together the killings will be reduced.

“The BSF does not discriminate among criminals…when such an incident happens it is done as a last resort when the life of a BSF personnel who is on duty, is threatened,” Theisen said.

“BSF believes in the use of non-lethal weapons and this has been our policy, this has been made mandatory and it is followed rigorously. However, when we find that force was used by BSF personnel which was more than necessary then legal action is taken against them,” he said.

Thaosen said his force has decided to bring these numbers to the “minimum” and all efforts are being made to sensitize and train the officers on the ground, he said.

Source PTI