BGB won't bar cattle coming thru' proper corridors

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will not interfere when cattle is brought from India through recognised corridors during this Eid-Ul-Adha, said Maj Gen Abul Hossain, director general of BGB.

“I told our regional commanders to provide the cattle traders a corridor,” the BGB chief said during a press conference held at BGB headquarters in the capital's Pilkhana.

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“If someone wants to bring cattle, we will not stop them. We will allow the [ use of the] corridor, but they have to agree to our conditions,” he said, adding the cattle traders have to be registered and should not trespass the zero line.

According to data of Bangladesh customs, in the fiscal 2016-17, the number of cattle entry was 1,14,338 in Satkhira while in 2015-16, the number stood at 76,918.

BGB closed those corridors where any fighting or killing took place, but the corridors which are peaceful, will be left alone, the DG said.

 “We have engaged our local representatives, administration and businessmen to keep a healthy environment at the border area,” he said.

The BGB chief said that they have already taken some initiatives in this regard like – opening the cattle corridor in a specific region, registration of cattle traders, employment of all the cattle traders, small projects in border area etc.

Asked, whether allowing Indian cattle would affect the local business, the DG said, “We would be happy, if we could stop it now. But we don't have enough time to stop it before Eid. We should have preparation for this, having more home-grown farms.”

The public relation officer of BSF south zone told this newspaper's Kolkata correspondent over phone that they knew nothing of this matter.