Silchar, Jan 26 : Work on a construction project on the bank of Kushiara in Karimganj that was stalled by a posse of Bangladesh Rifles personnel yesterday, resumed today following intervention by the BSF.
The district headquarters town of Karimganj, in fact, is located opposite the Bangladesh subdivisional town of Jakiganj.
Trouble began around noon yesterday when the BDR men arrived on Bangladesh’s side of the Kushiara in a speedboat and raised objections regarding the construction on the Indian side, taken up by the Karimganj municipality.
BSF personnel promptly reached the Kushiara bank and asked their counterparts in the BDR not to whip up tension with their “unnecessary and uncalled for interference”.
A BDR team arrived midstream again after two hours and began protesting against the riverbank construction, triggering a round of altercation with the BSF.
After some time, the Indian forces pulled out, unwilling to take the dispute any further.
But tension was finally defused after a senior BSF commander warned his Bangladesh counterparts over loudspeakers in late afternoon that Indian authorities would not brook any interference regarding constructions on the Indian side.
A source said the “threat” worked and the BDR men walked back to their barracks.
The BDR’s objections regarding the construction along Kushiara were based on fears that any riverbank fortification in India could lead to erosion on the Bangladesh side near Jakiganj town. The Rs 24-lakh project aims at preventing erosion in Karimganj.
BSF sources today said the personnel were keeping a watch and would not allow any interference with work on Indian soil.
