Farmers from the bordering areas of West Bengal and Bangladesh clashed on Saturday (Janauary 18, 2025) at the Sukhdebpur border outpost in Malda district. This incident occurred when some Indian farmers, like on normal days, had gone to their fields near their International Border.
It was at the same border outpost that differences between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had surfaced over fencing a few days ago.
“Indian farmers accused Bangladeshi farmers working in the fields across the border of stealing the crop, due to which an argument started between the farmers of both the countries. The incident took a serious turn when farmers from both sides started gathering in large numbers and started abusing and pelting stones at each other,” a press statement issued by the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF said.
As soon as the incident came to the light, BSF and BGB jawans reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The ruckus continued for some time but there were no reports of anyone being injured. Videos of the clashes were also telecast by local television channels.
The BSF statement said, “BSF advised Indian farmers to stay away from such disputes and asked them to inform BSF in case of any problem. BGB also played a positive role in controlling the situation and immediately took necessary action in its area to prevent the situation from worsening.”
The statement added that the BSF and the BGB unit commandants of the concerned area were also trying to establish better coordination among themselves.
Published – January 19, 2025 06:04 am IST
