Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says provisions on India-Bangladesh border fencing envisaged in the 1985 Assam Accord have been implemented only in recent years, with “actual implementation” starting from 2025. Speaking to reporters, he calls the earlier delay a “historical mistake,” arguing that after fencing work began along the Assam-Bangladesh border, similar efforts were not extended at the same time to other northeastern states that share the border, including Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and West Bengal. Sarma says this left long stretches unfenced for years, allowing cross-border movement.
He notes progress in multiple states: fencing work is reported to be about 90% completed in Meghalaya, around 60% in Tripura, and is also progressing in Mizoram. He adds that West Bengal, which he says had roughly 800 km of the border open, has now started the fencing process.
Sarma also questions the effectiveness of securing only some stretches of the border, contrasting locations he describes as open and closed. He further says the Union government has constituted a committee to examine demographic changes in border areas and that Assam plans to recommend citizenship scrutiny for families in vulnerable border regions.
