Two senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs would be visiting the Manipur-Myanmar border on Saturday to ascertain if the claims of the Manipur Government that the border fencing in the State was indeed taking place well within the Indian territory and had provided an opportunity to the neighbouring country to grab a large part of Indian territory.
Sources in the Ministry said Joint Secretary (Border Management) Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Joint Secretary (North East) Shambhu Singh would be visiting Manipur to apprise themselves of the situation on the ground.
Ministry sources said the MHA officials would be accompanied by senior officials of the Assam Rifles, Border Road Organisation and Surveyor General of India during their visit to the border.
The officials would be going to the north east State on the instructions of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who had on December 4 assured a high level all-party political delegation from the State, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, that he would get their complaints about intrusions by the Myanmarese examined.
The delegation had also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier that day and he had assured them that not an inch of Indian territory would be conceded to the neighbouring country.
The 23-member all-party delegation had complained to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister that the border fencing on a 10-km stretch in Moreh area along the international boundary was not being done without adherence to international practice. It said the fencing was taking place deep within Indian territory and due to this a huge tract of the country’s land had been abandoned, paving the way for the Myanmarese to come and occupy it.
MHA sources said while the fencing work has already been stopped, further decisions in the matter would be taken after the field visit.
