First ever ‘crime-free zone’ along international border launched

• Director generals of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have declared an 8.3 km stretch of the Indo-Bangladesh border as a ‘crime-free zone’.
• Bangladesh and India share a 4,156 km long international border. This includes 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in Bengal.

About Crime-free zone:

• The aim of creating a crime-free zone is to have select border locations that are clear of illegal, anti-social and criminal activities by integrating the efforts of the BSF and the BGB, with assistance from the district administration, NGOs and border population of both the countries.
• First such zone has inaugurated at the Kalyani border outpost in West Bengal.
• The 8.3-km "crime-free" zone stretches between the BSF border posts at Gunarmath and Kalyani and the BGB posts at Putkhali and Daulatpur. This stretch is one of the most vulnerable with cattle smuggling and other criminal activities prevalent.
• Once the pilot project succeeded, similar crime-free zones would be created all along the 4,096-km border that ran across various states.
• Both border guarding forces with the help of the civil administrations of the two countries, NGOs and the local populance will help in ensuring that no crime takes place along the stretch. Both the forces will work together to ensure that no crime or anti-social activity occurs along this stretch.
• This is a pilot project that will be reviewed after 5-6 months. The stretch will be extended to other trouble-prone areas. The idea is to target the more difficult areas along the 913 km of Indo-Bangladesh border under the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier. 

By: Vishal