Joint patrolling of India-Bangladesh border resumed

Agartala, March 29 (IANS) Indian and Bangladeshi frontiers guards have resumed joint patrolling along the border after a brief suspension of the combined vigil following a mutiny by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troopers in Dhaka last month, officials said here Sunday.

'The joint patrolling resumed last week following talks between the two sides,' A.K. Singh, spokesman of the Border Security Force (BSF), said.

Some 80 people were killed in the mutiny by BDR troopers.

Five Indian states - West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura - share a 4,095 km border with Bangladesh. These include a 2,979 km land border and 1,116 km are riverine.

'In view of next month's Lok Sabha elections, we are also conducting joint patrolling along vulnerable border areas with security forces of the northeastern states,' Singh said.

According to the BSF official, 21 companies (2,100 personnel) of additional paramilitary troopers have been deployed in Tripura for the elections.

'The highly vulnerable polling stations would be manned by 20 to 24 troopers of Central Para-Military Force (CPMF), while 10 to 12 personnel would guard vulnerable polling stations,' said K.V. Sreejesh, a senior police official.