HM Amit Shah announces complete border fencing between India and Myanmar

New Delhi, February 7

Union Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned that the Centre has decided to construct a fence Indo-Myanmar border to facilitate better surveillance.

HM Amit Shah said that the government has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1643-kilometer-long Indo-Myanmar border. To facilitate better surveillance, a patrol track along the border will also be paved. 

He added that out of the total border length, a 10 km stretch in Moreh, Manipur, has already been fenced. Furthermore, two pilot projects of fencing through a Hybrid Surveillance System (HSS) are under execution. 

They will fence a stretch of one km each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Additionally, fence works covering approximately 20 km in Manipur have also been approved, and the work will start soon, he further affirmed. 

The border between India and Myanmar runs for 1,643 km in the four states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. 

The FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement between the two countries that allows tribes living along the border to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa. Under the FMR, every member of the hill tribes, who is either a citizen of India or a citizen of Myanmar and who is resident of any area within 16 km on either side of the border can cross over on production of a border pass with one-year validity and can stay up to two weeks.

In one of the recent unrest episodes in Manipur, the authorities had found hand if Myanmar militants who allegedly found creating violence in Manipur.  Manipur CM N Biren Singh had also urged the Centre to find solutions for border crimes at Indo Myanmar border.