Kolkata, Aug 20 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in West Bengal’s Siliguri on Thursday evening for a three-day visit to the state, during which he will attend programmes and chair review meetings related to border security and interact with Sashastra Seema Bal personnel, officials said.
Shah will arrive at Bagdogra airport from Tamil Nadu at around 8 pm and proceed to Sukna, where he will stay overnight, they said.
The home minister’s visit assumes significance as the Siliguri corridor, commonly known as the “Chicken’s Neck”, is a strategically important stretch connecting the northeastern states with the rest of the country and lies close to the country’s borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The visit will include high-level reviews of security along India’s borders with the three neighbouring countries, the officials said.
“The union home minister is scheduled to fly directly to West Bengal from his meeting in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, where he is chairing the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council on Thursday,” an official said.
On Friday, the home minister will visit the SSB Frontier headquarters in Siliguri, where he will attend foundation-laying ceremonies for various border security projects and interact with SSB personnel, they said.
He will also participate in a “Bara khana” with the jawans.
Shah will later attend a programme and hold a meeting on the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita exhibition at Kawakhali ground in Siliguri.
After the event, Shah will return to Sukna, the officials said.
The three new criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — came into force on July 1, 2024, replacing the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act.
The home minister is also expected to chair a border-security review meeting on August 22, examining coordination among the BSF, SSB, intelligence agencies and state authorities.
The chiefs of both forces, along with the state police, will be in Siliguri during the meeting, the officials said.
The visit comes just over a month after Shah’s previous Siliguri tour, during which he reviewed border security, the implementation of the new criminal laws and other administrative issues in north Bengal.
The home minister’s current visit to Bengal is in “continuation of the steps for strengthening the border security, which will be unveiled in the coming days”, another official said.
Ahead of Shah’s visit, top police officers of the state, including police chief Siddh Nath Gupta, have reached Siliguri to review the arrangements.
