Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that states having international borders have equal responsibility with the Border Security Force (BSF) to check cross border crimes. He made the remark while addressing the 25th Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting at the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Odisha minister Pradeep Amat were present at the meeting.
According to Nabanna sources, talks of security at the borders were discussed at the meeting along with other issues like ‘One nation one police uniform’ (the bill of this bill be brought in the House), coordination of state governments with Central government and coordination of state police with Border Security Force (BSF) amongst other issues.
The Nabanna sources mentioned that the Union Home Minister urged the chief ministers to showcase the cultural diversity and tourist places of their states to the world during the various G-20 related events to be held in their states during the next one year.
Shah also urged the chief ministers to ensure the creation of the NCORD system at district-level and its regular meetings for the fight against narcotics and drugs.
After the meeting Shah held a separate meeting with Mamata at her chamber on the 14th floor.
According to sources, the West Bengal Chief Minister handed over a memorandum to Mr Shah asking for the backlog dues of the state and also about the increased jurisdiction of the BSF.
The Congress and CPI (M), however, slammed the separate meeting of Shah- Mamata.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who visited the airport for Mr Shah’s departure said that Shah spoke about the BSF issue with Mamata Banerjee.
“When I asked about the meeting on the 14th floor, the Union Home Minister said that he spoke about the BSF issue with the Chief Minister. As many as 72 BSF posts are yet to be made and the state government is not giving lands. Fencing is complete in Kashmir and even in Arunachal Pradesh only Bengal is left. Bengal border plays an important role,” said Mr Adhikari, adding that he along with BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar will meet Mr Shah at his chamber in Parliament on Tuesday.
