West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Monday that his government, in its first Cabinet meeting, gave its nod for land to be transferred to the Border Security Force to erect a fence along the border with Bangladesh, PTI reported.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that the land transfer process will start on Monday and will be completed in 45 days.

Adhikari took oath as the chief minister of West Bengal on May 9, becoming the first BJP leader to hold the post. The BJP had on May 4 defeated the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly elections, ending the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

Ahead of the elections, the BJP had accused the former Trinamool Congress government of failing to allocate land for border fencing, even as the TMC had alleged that the Border Security Force was unable to prevent infiltration into the country.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged in December that the Trinamool Congress had been encouraging undocumented immigration from Bangladesh as part of a conspiracy to bring about demographic change.

Banerjee, however, denied the BJP’s claims, asserting that her government had allotted land for fencing in the border towns of Petrapole and Andal.

Edited by Sneha

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