Opposition parties on Tuesday criticised the ruling Congress-led alliances in the state as well as the Centre for their failure to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border despite a barbed wire fence project taking off way back in 1989. While the issue came up in the state Assembly in the form of questions tabled by senior members Joseph Toppo and Alaka Sharma (both AGP)and Mission Ranjan Das (BJP),it led to a heated debate with other Opposition members joining them in lambasting the government for the inordinate delay in completion of the border sealing project. Every time we ask a question,the government comes up with a renewed target for completion of the border fence with Bangladesh. Infiltration has been going on unabated from the other side and the government itself does not hesitate to admit this, said Alaka Sharma. Opposition leader Chandra Mohan Patowari said while the Pakistan border was sealed and secured in less time despite the work there beginning much later than the Indo-Bangla border,the government did not seem serious in sealing the eastern border. Patowari urged Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai to take an all-party delegation to New Delhi to exert pressure on the Centre to complete the project. Now that both prime minister and home minister have also expressed concern over threats emanating from Bangladesh,it is high time we press Delhi for urgent action, Patowari said. Interestingly,even as several questions pertaining to the Indo-Bangladesh border came up in the Assembly,Bhumidhar Barman,Minister for Assam Accord,said the target for completing the border fence project has been rescheduled to March 2010. This is the fifth time in as many years that the target has been rescheduled.
