KRISHNAGAR: Two days after CM
Mamata Banerjee asked Bengal DGP Manoj Malaviya to “directly speak” with
BSF DG Pankaj Kumar Singh on all border-related issues, saying she didn’t “want any confrontation in which the local police are kept in the dark”, she again asserted on Thursday that “law and order” was a state subject and asked police to remain alert along border areas.
At the administrative meeting held in Krishnanagar on Thursday, Banerjee said: “I will ask the ICs (inspectors-in-charge) to increase their mobility and step up ‘naka’ checking. You have borders with Bangladesh, starting from Karimpur. You also have to keep an eye on that... You also have to see that BSF does not get into villages without your permission. BSF will do their work and you will do yours. Always remember law and order is your subject.”
Meanwhile, Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday expressed “deep concern” over the CM’s stance on BSF jurisdiction and said it sent “disturbing signals and is potentially alarming for federal polity and national security”.
“In the state, having an international border with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan — the BSF and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) play a significant, well-defined, crucial role from the perspective of national security,” the governor said in a letter to the CM.
“There is an obvious need to generate bonhomie and not confrontation; cooperation and not combat amongst these agencies and the state apparatus,” Dhankar further said and added that the CM’s statement was not in sync with law.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh took a dig at Dhankhar, saying he should take a look at the letter
Narendra Modi, as then Gujarat CM, wrote in 2012 on BSF jurisdiction.