Border Fencing: Tension at Tin Bigha Corridor in Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar

Fresh tension has erupted along the international border near the Tin Bigha Corridor in Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar in North Bengal over the construction of the barbed wire fencing.

As the work began near the Dahagram-Angarpota area, a heated verbal confrontation broke out between India's BSF (Border Security Force) and Bangladesh's BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh).

Senior officials from both forces later held a meeting to resolve the situation.

What Happened

According to administrative sources, a long-unguarded stretch of the border had been earmarked for land survey and fencing. On Friday(22/5) morning, government officials — under BSF protection — began measuring land near the border. Some Bangladeshi residents and later BGB personnel objected to the work.

Local Indian residents allege that cattle crossing over from Bangladesh have been damaging crops, which is why they — with BSF cooperation — initiated efforts to erect a temporary fence. BGB, however, opposed the construction of any permanent structure so close to the border line.

The situation was eventually brought under control through a flag meeting and talks between the two border forces.

Why Tin Bigha Is Sensitive

The Tin Bigha Corridor is a 178-metre-long strip of Indian territory that serves as the only land link connecting the Dahagram-Angarpota enclave (a Bangladeshi enclave entirely surrounded by Indian territory in West Bengal) to mainland Bangladesh.

• Following a 2011 agreement, the corridor has been open 24 hours a day for the residents of Dahagram-Angarpota to travel to and from mainland Bangladesh.

• The area has no fencing, raising repeated concerns about infiltration, smuggling, and security.

BJP MLA Dadhiram Roy issued a strong warning prior to launching of the fence work. According to him, once the construction work for fencing starts and repeated obstruction to fencing work continues, he may demand to the higher authorities for a temporary suspension of Bangladeshi passage through the Tin Bigha Corridor.

 Fencing, Roy claimed, is critical for national security and that central security forces must not be impeded while carrying out border protection work. Because, the corridor has increasingly been posing risk to national security owing to unbridled smuggling of contraband and cow besides other subversive elements.

Broader Context

The Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government has recently given a push to expedite completion of the unfinished part of the barbed wire fencing along the Bangladesh border and mobilised the concerned department officials to undertake the process of transferring land to the BSF for this purpose.

The Dahagram-Angarpota enclave issue dates back to the 1947 Partition and was a long-standing diplomatic dispute between India and Bangladesh. The Tin Bigha Corridor lease arrangement — first signed in 1974 and operationalized in stages — was a landmark step in resolving enclave-related tensions, though it remains geopolitically delicate to this day.

Key Words: BSF – BGB-Bangladesh- Cooch Behar-Dahagram-Angarpota enclave- Mekhliganj- Tin Bigha Corridor- 2011 agreement.