Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that states having international borders have equal responsibility with the Border Security Force (BSF) to check cross border crimes. He made the remark while addressing the Eastern Zonal Council meeting at the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna.
Secretariat sources said that Shah refused to accept the arguments of some state governments that cross-border crimes like illegal infiltration and smuggling taking place due to the BSF's negligence.
The concerned state governments also have an equal responsibility in checking the cross-border crimes, he said at the meeting. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterpart from Jharkhand Hemant Soren and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik did not attend the meeting and instead deputed two members of his cabinet to participate. Senior officials of the Central and state governments were also in attendance.
The Union Home Minister further claimed that the Centre is taking the matter of internal security quite seriously and on this point, he stressed on a smooth coordination between the Union and the state governments.
He also reportedly claimed that there were certain lapses by the previous regime at the national level which the present Union government is trying to resolve. Encroachment of railway land was another important issue that was raised in the meeting.
Railway Board Member (works) Brijesh Kumar raised the issue and sought the cooperation of the concerned state government to free the railway land from encroachments.
However, state secretariat sources said that when Shah stressed on the state government to take action on this count, Mamata Banerjee insisted that making the land encroachment-free will not be possible with proper compensation and rehabilitation.