Shah reviews border security at BSF post near Siliguri, inaugurates projects worth Rs 77 crore

PTI, July 18, 2026, Siliguri : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday reviewed security arrangements along the border fencing in the sensitive national boundaries in north Bengal and inaugurated development projects valued at Rs 77.06 crore for the BSF.

Shah reached the Seema Chowki, or the base of the BSF's 18th Battalion, in the Jumagachh area of the Fulbari border outpost on the fringes of the north Bengal town of Siliguri, where he interacted with the paramilitary personnel, visited a watchtower next to the border fences, and planted a sapling, according to an official statement.

The Union Minister, who arrived on Friday evening in Bagdogra on a three-day visit to the state — his second in the current month — attended the Prahari Sammelan of the BSF.

He was accompanied at the base by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.

Senior bureaucrats and police officials, including Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Home Secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, BSF Director General Praveen Kumar, NIA Director General Rakesh Agarwal, and State DGP Siddh Nath Gupta, were present at the base.

Shah's visit assumed added significance in the wake of increased focus on security provisions at the "Chicken's Neck", formally known as the Siliguri Corridor, a vital 17-22 kilometre-wide land strip which serves as the only terrestrial link between mainland India and its eight north-eastern states and is of critical importance to border security.

The corridor is wedged between three international borders — Nepal to the north, Bangladesh to the south, and Bhutan to the north-east.

Recently, the newly elected Suvendu Adhikari government in the state transferred 120 acres of land to the BSF for border fencing in the region and handed over the management of seven crucial highways in this area, previously managed under the National Highways wing of the state's Public Works Department (PWD), to the Centre.

Shah is scheduled to chair a host of meetings on border management and other administrative issues, including the implementation of the new criminal laws in the state and birth and death registration, later in the day at Uttarkanya, the North Bengal branch of the state secretariat.