The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is set to fence a significant part of the India-Myanmar border, with a 10 km stretch in Manipur already completed, according to a PTI report citing BRO’s Additional Director General (East) PKH Singh. The Ministry of Home Affairs has reportedly identified approximately 1,700 km for fencing of which the BRO has completed a 10 km stretch in Manipur’s Moreh and has been handed over to the Assam Rifles.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said the Centre has decided that the India-Myanmar border will be fenced like the India-Bangladesh border, and the government was rethinking the free movement agreement with Myanmar.
Four northeastern Indian states – Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) – share a 1,643-km border with Myanmar.
Mr. Singh said the next 80-km stretch in Manipur has also been identified and the detailed project report (DPR) submitted to the ministry.
Fencing the remaining 250 km, along with its approach roads, is in the planning stage with the DPR under preparation.
“The fencing of the India-Myanmar border is an important project for the BRO, which is now coming up in Moreh. The area around this border has been unfenced since long, and there was a need to check the activities around it,” the ADG said.
Mr. Singh said the BRO has a long-term roll-out plan of nearly Rs 30,000 crore in the northeast over the next five years, and out of this, almost two-thirds is focused in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.