DHAKA: Unabated cattle smuggling from India to Bangladesh through the West Bengal border has put the Indian security agencies in a quandary.
“As per ground reports, cattle smuggling along the north-eastern sector of the India-Bangladesh border has dropped drastically, but there is no let-up along the West Bengal sector,” a senior official in India’s home ministry has told bdnews24.com.
Total cooperation from the state government was a must ‘to stop cattle smuggling’, he said.
“We are taking all possible measures to stop such smuggling,” said Sambhu Singh, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km-long international border, of which West Bengal shares the longest stretch of 2,217 km.
Assam shares 262 km, Tripura 856 km, Mizoram 180 km, and Meghalaya 443 km.
According to official statistics, around 1,700,000 herds of cattle had been smuggled to Bangladesh from India in 2014.
The new BJP government in New Delhi has been advocating a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.
In the recent past, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked the Border Security Force (BSF) deployed along the border to put a complete halt to smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh.
India does not export cattle and any cross-border cattle trade between India and its neighbouring countries is considered illegal.
However, due to the high demand for beef in Bangladesh, herds of cattle are illegally smuggled from India to Bangladesh.
The BSF estimates the cattle smuggling to be a Rs. 5,000 crore industry. Bangladesh officially denies any smuggling of cattle from India, and instead terms it cattle trade.
The issue of cattle smuggling is likely to be discussed in a meeting to be held in Guwahati, Assam, on Saturday.
Home Minister Singh will chair the meeting, which will be attended by the chief ministers of the north-eastern states and Sikkim.
The Minister of State for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER), Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju and Home Secretary LC Goyal will also take part.
Although security-related issues including counter-insurgency operations, effective functioning of anti-extortion cells, and the strengthening and equipping of regional state police forces will be discussed.
“The issue of cattle smuggling will also be on the agenda,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.
“The participants will also discuss the effective guarding of the international border in the north-eastern states,” he added.
