Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Thursday welcomed the decision of the Central Government to fence the entire Indo- Myanmar border as also the decision to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR).
He expressed special appreciation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for this decision, “something towards which his government has been working since 2017”, he said.
On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that “The Modi government is committed to building impenetrable borders. It 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. 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 1 km each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Additionally, fence works covering approx 20 km in Manipur have also been approved, and the work will start soon”.
He also announced on the same day that the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar will be scrapped.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided that the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar be scrapped to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar,” said Amit Shah on X.
Addressing media persons at a press conference, N Biren Singh said that keeping the people and border safe and secure is the priority of his government and that fencing the border is the right move towards this. The fence will help stop the illegal migration of people, and the smuggling of arms and drugs from across the border. He also informed that work on a highly sophisticated Hybrid Surveillance System (HSS) which can even detect drones flying over it has already started on a 1 km stretch fence of the border.
Stating that Manipur has been facing a very serious issue of drug menace and illegal migration, he said his government’s effort to deal with this twin challenge has led to the present situation in Manipur. He recalled how his government started the ‘War on Drugs’ to stop the unchecked proliferation of drugs in society and started taking biometric data to deport illegal migrants from Manipur.
On the Government’s War on Drugs Campaign, the Chief Minister informed that the Government has not stopped its work of destroying poppy plantations, since the start of the campaign and added that areas of poppy plantations had decreased a lot. Identification of areas with poppy cultivation had been done through satellite mapping, he said, adding that combined teams of Narcotics and Affairs of Border, Narcotics Control Bureau, State forces and Forest Department would destroy the poppy plantations by the end of this month.
He also lauded the move of the Central Government to constitute a high-powered committee for considering the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”. He further appreciated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for announcing it in her interim budget speech, acknowledging what the people wanted.
