New Delhi: The 1,643 km long India-Myanmar international border, famous for smuggling of arms, ammunition and narcotics, will be fenced at a cost of Rs 31,000 crore. Home Ministry sources said on Wednesday that the Cabinet Committee on Security has in principle approved the fencing and construction of roads on the India-Myanmar border.

10 km long fence erected near Moreh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said on Tuesday that fencing work has been completed on 30 km of the border. He called it the root cause of ethnic violence in Manipur. About 10 km of fencing has already been completed near Moreh and fencing work is underway on 21 km of the border in other areas of Manipur.

The India-Myanmar border passes through Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The central government has already abolished the India-Myanmar Free Movement (FMR) system, which allowed people living close to the border to travel up to 16 km into each other's territory without any documents.

What did the Home Ministry say?

The Home Ministry said that fast immigration clearance process will soon be started at seven more airports for pre-verified Indian citizens and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders. These include Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and Ahmedabad airports. According to officials, the Fast Track Immigration-Trusted Traveler Program (FTI-TTP) has already been launched at Delhi's IGI Airport in June.

One-stop portal coordination established

Officials said that with an aim to curb cyber crime nationwide, the government is setting up a one-stop portal for data sharing among state police forces. Officers of law enforcement agencies will be using the portal to map locations of cyber criminals, mule bank accounts, ATM withdrawal locations, points of sale for SIM cards, suspicious residences.

He informed that since the implementation of the Indian Penal Code on July 1, more than 5.56 lakh FIRs have been registered under it across the country. For smooth implementation of the new criminal laws, the Home Ministry has also developed several mobile applications including e-Evidence for capturing and storing evidence through videography and photography. On another issue, it was informed that the Modi government has sanctioned Rs 12,554 crore to the states for disaster relief.