BSF, BGB hold Director General level talks in Dhaka, agree to share real-time information with each other
Sep 19, 2020
Dhaka [Bangladesh], September 19 : Border Guarding Forces of India and Bangladesh, BSF and BGB respectively, held Directors General Level talks from September 16-19 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) agreed to share real-time information with each other through formal or informal channels including smuggling of drugs and narcotics, and human trafficking.
Meanwhile, BSF DG Rakesh Asthana stated that death or apprehension of criminals on the border is irrespective of nationalities and that BSF personnel fire with non-lethal weapon only in self-defence when they are surrounded by a large number of miscreants armed with dah, sticks, and their lives are endangered.
Relations between India and Bangladesh have been strengthened in various sectors including trade, maritime and economy.
India has allowed the export of onions lying on ports in transit to all countries including Bangladesh, government sources said on Friday.
In the Kolkata zone, there are 20,089 metric tonnes of onion lying on the port while in the Mumbai-II zone, 4,576 metric tonnes of the commodity are kept, sources said.
In other places like Trichy and Nagpur, 933 and around 258 metric tonnes of onion are lying on these ports respectively, they added.
The development comes after Bangladesh had expressed "deep concern" over India's decision to ban onion exports, according to media reports.
The central government on Monday banned the export of all varieties of onions except those cut, sliced or broken in powder form, with immediate effect, in an apparent move aimed at increasing domestic supply and reducing the prices.
Last October, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had jokingly said she asked her cook to not add onion while preparing food and lamented that her country has been inconvenienced by India's decision to ban exports of onion in September. The ban was subsequently lifted in March this year.
India's move to ban exports of onions earlier this week has shot up prices of the kitchen staple in Bangladesh. Apart from this, hundreds of Bangladesh-bound onion trucks were stranded at various ports and land borders in West Bengal.
