New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS): Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday said that cross border infiltration has come down in 2020, and fencing of a 60-km stretch at the border with West Bengal could not be completed due to land acquisition issues.

The Minister was responding to a query and said, in the past one year, there were 489 cases and 955 infiltrators were arrested by the Border Security Force and handed over to local police for further action.

He said since 2016 there is gradual reduction. In 2018, 420 cases and 884 arrests were made, while 500 cases and 1,109 were arrested in 2019. There were 654 cases, 1,601 people were arrested in 2017.

The Minister informed that from 2016 to 2019, there were 2,548 reported complaints, in which 2,104 FIR was registered; 4,189 accused were named of which 4,072 were arrested, and charges were filed against 1,134 persons and 212 were convicted.

The Minister also informed that fencing could not be done in some stretches due to terrain and geographical conditions. However, the pilot project for new design of modular fencing on India Pakistan border in Punjab has been completed in March 2020.