First BSF-BGB meet after new governments in Dhaka and Kolkata 

Subhashis Mittra

The bi-annual conference at the level of the Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) and his counterpart in the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to discuss coordination at the India-Bangladesh international boundary has become a routine affair. The 57th edition of the meet at the BSF headquarters in New Delhi between 8-11 June 2026 was no different. The Indian side was headed by BSF DG Praveen Kumar, while the Bangladesh delegation was led by BGB DG Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui.

TACTICAL COMMUNICATION DG BSF Praveen Kumar with DG BGB Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui during the recent meeting

“Both sides held detailed discussions on measures to effectively prevent trans-border crimes, including smuggling of narcotics, arms, counterfeit currency, gold and other contraband, as well as illegal border crossings and human trafficking,” the BSF said in a statement issued a day after the end of talks. The BSF is designated as the lead security and intelligence-gathering agency for this front. The two delegations also discussed issues relating to border deaths and illegal/ inadvertent/ forcible crossing at the border areas, construction of border infrastructure, implementation of the Coordinated Border Management Plan, confidence building measures and the need for closer cooperation in addressing ‘emerging’ security challenges along the border.

However, the latest round of the meeting was noteworthy as it was held for the first time since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government took charge in Dhaka early this year and West Bengal elected a new government headed by the BJP. It is pertinent to mention that more than half (2,216 km) of the total 4,096-km-long India-Bangladesh international frontier falls in West Bengal. The new West Bengal government under chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has declared that it will launch strong action against illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators and that such individuals will face ‘3D action—detect, delete and deport’. The BJP government is already going at it hammer and tongs against the illegal infiltrators. Barely within weeks of assuming office, chief minister Adhikari said that around 4,800 illegal immigrants have been sent to Bangladesh from ‘holding centres’ set up in the state’s border districts and more such people are awaiting deportation. The West Bengal government has also handed over large tracts of land to the BSF for the erection of a strong fence.