17 Indian workers stranded in Bangladesh brought back: BSF

Seventeen Indian road construction workers stranded in Bangladesh amid the turmoil in the neighbouring country have been brought back safely, the Border Security Force (BSF) said on Thursday, 8 August.

The men were employed by AFCONS Infrastructure Private Limited for construction of a 52-km-long four-lane road from Akhaura to Kishoreganj in Bangladesh. They were brought back through the international border in Tripura.

Due to the unrest in Bangladesh, workers of the company were stranded in their camp at Ramrail. A total of 17 workers were en route to integrated check post (ICP) Akhaura from that side and a request was made to the BSF to facilitate their safe movement on Wednesday night, said a spokesperson for the Tripura Frontier of the BSF.

The BSF established "immediate" contact with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at the nodal officer level.

"In a well-planned and coordinated operation, BSF and BGB acted in tandem displaying synergy. BGB provided help to the 17 workers of AFCONS and ensured their safe movement up to the ICP and then ensured customs and immigration clearance late in the night before handing them over to BSF at ICP Agartala," the spokesperson said.

The BSF guards 856 km of the overall 4,096-km-long India-Bangladesh border in Tripura. The force is in "high alert" mode all along this eastern border since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka.