Kolkata, Dec 28
Amid constant alerts by intelligence agencies about massive illegal infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh, a local panchayat body in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal has initiated the installation of additional CCTVs in the villages adjacent to the India-Bangladesh border.
Chaygharia village panchayat under Petrapole Police in Bangaon sub-division in North 24 Parganas district is the first local rural civic body in the state to take such an initiative on its own.
Following that initiative a total of 50 new CCTV cameras have been installed in the area.
According to a Chaygharia village panchayat representative although the prime task of arresting illegal infiltration is the responsibility of Border Security Force (BSF) and then state police, the panchayat authorities too felt the moral obligation to do something on their own at least to help the security agencies in increasing the surveillance cover in the area.
"The situation is quite tense in Bangladesh. In such a situation the possibilities of illegal infiltration increases since the majority of the area under panchayat jurisdiction is extremely close to the borders. So with the installation of the CCTV machines almost the entire area is under surveillance on a 24x7 basis," said Chaygharia village panchayat member Uma Ghosh.
Meanwhile, the state police as well as BSF have started constantly alerting the residents at the villages to alert the security agencies of any suspicious activity in the areas by any outsider or newcomer in the locality.
The house owners have also been asked to cross check the credentials of those whom they are letting out rooms on rent and submit their identity details to the local police station.
Already, there had been an alert from the Central agencies that in the recent past there had been a sudden rise in the trend of outsiders having started residing at the border adjacent villages renting rents.