West Bengal government hands over land for construction of border fence to BSF

The West Bengal government has handed over land along 77 kilometres of the border with Bangladesh to the Border Security Force (BSF) for the construction of a fence and other infrastructure projects, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (Augut 20, 2025). Land to fence another 229.31 km is in various stages of acquisition, the MHA said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Lok Sabha in April that nearly 450 km of the border with Bangladesh has not been fenced yet due to the Trinamool Congress’ politics of appeasement.

Responding to a question by Shambhu Sharan Patel and Neeraj Shekhar, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply, “The total length of the Indo–Bangladesh border in West Bengal is 2,216.7 km, out of which 1,647.696 km has been fenced. Of the remaining 569.004 km, which has yet to be fenced, 112.780 km is non-feasible and 456.224 km is feasible.”

Awaiting aquisition

The reply added, “Out of 456.224 km of feasible IB (International Boundary) length in West Bengal, land for 77.935 km has been handed over to the executing agency. Of the remaining 378.289 km, the State Government is yet to initiate acquisition for 148.971 km, while another 229.318 km is in various stages of land acquisition.”

The reply added that payment for 181 km has been made by the Centre, but the State Government has yet to hand over the land to the BSF, the executing agency for border fencing and infrastructure. The reply said that the hand over of land along 31 km was awaiting approval from the State Cabinet.

To expedite the land acquisition, the Government of India is holding regular meetings with the State Government, and timely land acquisition payments are being released, the reply said.

The MHA had earlier informed the Supreme Court in 2023 that the West Bengal government has not adopted the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act) under which the Government can take possession of any land needed for a public purpose. The West Bengal Government follows a Direct Land Purchase Policy even for national security projects such as border fencing.

The reply added that until July 31 this year, as many as 723 people were apprehended entering the country across the West Bengal border, while 1,694 were apprehended last year.