Gurdaspur: MHA mulls shifting International Border fence, scores of farmers will benefit

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, January 13

Hundreds of farmers having their agriculture land across the barbed fencing along the International Border (IB) are likely to benefit in a big way if the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) goes ahead with its “proposed decision” to shift the fencing to within 200 metres of the zero line.

A proposal to this effect has been prepared by the BSF and would be soon forwarded to the MHA.

Thousands of acres of highly fertile land, which is sandwiched between the fencing and the zero line, will be freed from what farmers’ term as “encumbrances”.

“Once the notification is issued, the land acquisition process which is to be initiated by the Punjab Government will commence. The construction will be done by the CPWD,” said Gurdaspur Sector DIG Prabhakar Joshi.

At present, farmers have to go through the rigmarole of obtaining permits from the BSF, which in itself is a “tedious process”. Also, they cannot till their land during the night. To complicate matters, the BSF does not give them permission to sow sugarcane crop in this cane-rich area of Gurdaspur. The rates of land would also see an increase.

Jagdeep Singh Teja, a farmer whose land is near Thakurpur village, a stone’s throw away from the fencing, “We have been waiting for this to happen for the past several decades. We are stranded in no-man’s land. We will not require the mandatory permissions from the BSF to visit our own fields,” he said.

Officers said they need not worry about Pakistan seeing this as a provocative act as they would not be going beyond the zero line.

India had fenced 461-km long Punjab’s border with Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. This was done to stop militants and illegal immigrants from sneaking into Indian territory.

Sources said the new fencing may be in place by the middle of this year.

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