Shifting of fence brings cheer to farmers along Indo-Pak border

Ferozpur (Punjab), Jan 1 (ANI) : Farmers in the Ferozpur area living close to India Pakistan border have a reason to smile as the Border Security Force (BSF) is shifting the fencing to the zero point, leaving vast areas to farmers to move freely in.

The areas where the fencing is being shifted to the zero point, five kilometers away, are Gajniwala, Dona Talumal, Joginder villages.

The farmers have been protesting for long over problems faced in tilling their fields.

Happy with the decision, farmers say that it will enable them to work for long hours in their field without any disturbances and get better produce.

"The government has said that they would shift the border fencing to 0 point. Earlier, a lot of our precious time used to get wasted because of frisking at the border area and we used to get two to three hours to work in the field, which was not enough," said Rasham, a farmer.

The BSF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajesh Gupta said around 3.5 thousands acres of land would be freed from fencing, which will bring relief to around 200 farmers.

"The farmers of Gajniwala, Joginder have been demanding for long that the fencing be shifted so that they can work in their fields without any disturbances," Gupta said.

So keeping in view the farmers' demand, the federal government has sent a sanction according to which we will shift the fencing to five kilometres towards the border, after which 3.5 thousands acres of land will fall in our side from the fencing and the owners of the land would be able to work without any disturbance," he added.

India began setting up a long fence along the border with Pakistan in the mid-90s to stop militant groups and illegal immigrants from sneaking into Indian territory. (ANI)