The Border Security Force (BSF) has proposed a "no-habitation zone" of 150 yards along the long Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal, Meghalaya, and Tripura so it can effectively manage it and stop illegal infiltration. Currently 145 villages with 13,650 houses with 89,000 people in these states block 45.45 kilometers of the fencing that the BSF undertaken and thereby rendering the effort useless. The Home Ministry wants the fencing work to complete by the end of the year.

The BSF's plan is to relocate these villages so infiltration and trans-border crossing can be stopped immediately. Ethnically and genetically, Indians and Bangladeshis living on either side of the border are indistinguishable since the partition itself was farcical. A similar arrangement was created along the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab and Rajasthan and border residents have been given special identity cards that would greatly help the Army and paramilitary forces to identify the individual. Since many terrorist groups operating in the north east work out of Bangladesh and the government there refuse to cooperate, BSF says that this is the only way to stop infiltration and ex-filtration of terrorists.

The Home Ministry has already sent the plan to the concerned states for input. However, since these states are densely populated, the lack of equivalent land to compensate them for the loss may be a stumbling block. Already, several non-government organizations have opposed fencing in some parts of the Jayantia Hills and West Khasi Hills.