Gandhinagar, May 28 (IANS) Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on Thursday said the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal had handed over 600 hectares of land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within seven days to strengthen fencing work along the Bangladesh border.

Addressing a public gathering in Sonipur village of Gandhinagar district during the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony for development works worth Rs 340 crore, HM Shah said the BJP had fulfilled its election promise of speeding up border fencing work in the state.

“We had promised during the election campaign that if you handed governance to us, we would begin fencing work along the Bangladesh border within a few days,” HM Shah said.

Congratulating West Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, he said, “I want to congratulate West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for handing over 600 hectares of land to the BSF within just seven days. Another 121 hectares of land in the Chicken Neck area has also been handed over to the Central government.”

HM Shah linked the move to the BJP’s broader national security agenda and claimed that infiltration along the Bangladesh border had already reduced after the change in government in Bengal.

“Earlier, under Mamata’s rule, infiltration took place every day, but now infiltrators are themselves starting to return,” he said.

The Union Home Minister made the remarks while highlighting what he described as the BJP’s expanding political footprint across the country.

Referring to the recent West Bengal Assembly election, HM Shah said that the BJP had decisively defeated the Trinamool Congress-led government.

“Today, the BJP governs 80 per cent of the country’s geographical area. Most recently, elections were held in Bengal, where Didi’s government was completely wiped out,” he said.

HM Shah also said the BJP’s “saffron flag” was now flying across the entire Ganga belt “from Uttarakhand to Gangasagar”.

The speech came during Shah’s visit to Gandhinagar for multiple development programmes, including the inauguration of drinking water facilities, beautified Anganwadi centres and village development projects in Kalol and Gandhinagar North Assembly constituencies.

According to Shah, development works worth Rs 1,200 crore had been inaugurated or launched in the two constituencies within the past 10 days.

He credited the projects to the state government, the Centre and Corporate Social Responsibility funds from private industrial groups.

–IANS

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