The BSF also avoided the  BGB call for company commander-level flag meeting on Friday afternoon, mentioned the BGB officials.

The BSF 98th battalion members of Phulkadabri camp in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, India, installed electric poles 50 yards inside the zero line of the border at Gatiyar Bhita.

As people of the area informed the BGB, a patrol team of the BGB Dhabalsuti border outpost protested at the BSF’s construction on Thursday night, and the BSF stopped it, they said.  The international law does not allow constructing any such fences within 150 yards of the no man’s land.

The incident took place at a time when the BGB and the BSF were set to hold a director general-level meeting over border fencing at several points by Indian BSF in New Delhi in February 17–20.

Rabiul Islam, a resident of the area, said that the BSF members were coming to the zero line at night with huge deployment. ‘We, the villagers, are in panic due to the BSF activities,’ Rabiul added.

BGB Dhabalsuti camp company commander Mahbub Rahman said that the BSF installed electric pillars on Thursday.

‘We have protested and urged to stop the construction. Later, we called for a company commander-level flag meeting on Friday afternoon. But, the BSF did not respond to it,’ mentioned Mahbub.

BGB 61 battalion commanding officer lieutenant colonel Sheikh Mohammad Musahid Masumen could not be reached over phone despite several attempts.

The government has recently urged India to refrain from any provocative actions amid tensions along the border over the construction of barbed wire fences in violation of the international law at five points in bordering districts of Chapainawabgang, Lalmonirhat and Naogaon with the deployment of additional forces on both the sides.

On January 12, the foreign ministry summoned the high commissioner of India to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, to express its concern over the construction of barbed wire fences and protest at the recent killing of a Bangladeshi national by the BSF in the border.

India had already constructed barbed wire fences in areas of 3,271 kilometres of the 4,156km border, according to Bangladesh government.