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Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday hit out at the Centre and said that if the government does not roll back its order concerning enhanced jurisdiction of Border Security Force (BSF), a session of state assembly will be convened on the issue.
Addressing an all-party meeting here, the Chief Minister said "all parties unanimously passed a resolution" that this notification should be rolled back by the Centre. "If the Central government does not do it, parties decided that a session of Vidhan Sabha would be called over the issue," he said. "It is like a raid on our rights in the federal structure. All political parties in Punjab will come together in the fight to make the Centre withdraw the notification. This is a matter related to state's law and order," he added. BJP's Punjab unit decided to boycott the meeting, stating that there is no conflict between the BSF and the state police. BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia said "BSF is a concurrent list subject". "Along with the BSF, the Punjab Police can also carry out searches and register cases. Drones are used to smuggle weapons and drugs and to stop these illegal activities, the jurisdiction of BSF has been extended," he said. The meeting was convened by the Punjab Chief Minister to discuss the Centre's decision which allows the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders. BSF, which was only empowered to take action up to 15 kilometres in the states of Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, has now been authorised to have jurisdiction up to 50 km without any hurdle or further permission either from central or state governments. (ANI)
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