A senior officer said that the border guarding forces of India and Bangladesh have made a "momentous" decision to start collaborative civil works on five development projects along the 4,096 km of shared border that will benefit the local population on both sides. The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) also stated that they are working individually and together to "reduce" the cases of killing of Bangladeshi nationals in the boundary area at the conclusion of their four-day biannual border discussions meeting, which started on July 11 in Delhi.
The BSF has attributed these fatalities to criminals and smugglers who either attack its soldiers or do other cross-border crimes, and this issue has been a major source of friction between the two neighbours.
The directors general (DsG) of the BSF and the BGB presided over the 53rd edition of the meeting, which concluded with the signing of a "joint record of discussions" at a BSF camp in the Chhawla neighbourhood of the 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 initiatives involve building a bailey bridge, fixing roads and upgrading the retaining walls along the border that runs across the five states of Assam, West Bengal, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura on India's eastern flank.