The land of farmers on the Indo-Pak border will now be freed from fencing, and the pilot project to advance the fencing on the border has been initiated from Pathankot. The Union Home Ministry and the BSF are carrying out this trial on an area spanning 8.5 KMs, under which, there is a plan to barricade up to 200 metres before the zero line. The international standard is 150 metres. The Punjab government had also suggested doing it up to 200 metres earlier. Currently, it is 400 metres or even beyond at certain points.
Currently, many of the fertile land patches are either empty or limited farming is being practiced by the farmers. The team of the Union Home Ministry’s border management wing had recently taken a stock of the land with engineers. It is noteworthy that for years, in the bordering areas of Punjab and Rajasthan, the farmers have requested to use their lands.
Bhagwant Mann, CM, Punjab, said that this decision will lead to thousands of farmers getting their land. He added that he had discussed this problem faced by the farmers with the union home minister during their meeting, and that the central government’s pilot project is completely being supported by the state government of Punjab.
Prabhakar Joshi, DIG, BSF, Gurdaspur sector, stated that all the international laws and standards are being followed in implementing this pilot project, and if this trial proves to be successful in Punjab, then this will be implemented on all of the border.
