West Bengal, Punjab protest over BSF area expansion

The West Bengal government has protested the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs decision to extend the BSF’s jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km inside the international border along with Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, Indian Express reported on Thursday.

The opposition-ruled Punjab and West Bengal described it as an “irrational decision”, a “direct attack on federalism” and an attempt to “interfere through Central agencies”.

It outlined the new jurisdiction as “whole of the area comprised in the States of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya and Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and so much of the area comprised within a belt of fifty kilometers in the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, running along the borders of India,” the report added.

However, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi tweeted: “I strongly condemn the GoI’s unilateral decision to give additional powers to BSF within 50 km belt running along the international borders, which is a direct attack on federalism. I urge the Union Home Minister @AmitShah to immediately rollback this irrational decision.”

West Bengal Transport Minister and TMC leader Firhad Hakim said: “The Central Government is violating the federal structure of the country. Law and order is a state subject but the Central Government is trying to interfere through central agencies.”