The demographic changes in the border areas are a part of the "deliberate design" and they directly impact the security of the country and its borders, said the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, as he urged the collectors of border districts to take appropriate action to remove illegal religious encroachments.
He said all illegal encroachments within at least a 30-km radius from the borders should be removed and lauded the Gujarat government for doing "commendable work" in clearing numerous encroachments along both maritime and land borders.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day Vibrant Villages Programme workshop today, the home minister said the VVP is based on three key points — preventing migration from border villages, ensuring that every citizen of border villages receives 100 per cent benefits of central and state government schemes, and developing the villages under the VVP into strong tools to strengthen border and national security. He then asked the district magistrates to ensure that, despite challenging geographical conditions, citizens do not abandon their villages, migration is prevented, and the village population also increases.
He said on the occasion of Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that demographic changes are a matter of concern.
"The collectors of districts included in the Vibrant Villages Programme need to address this issue with seriousness and attention to detail. Demographic changes in border areas directly impact the security of the country and its borders," he said.
Shah said it should not be assumed that this is happening due to geographical conditions; rather, "it is occurring as part of a deliberate design".
He also asked the chief secretaries of states and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to pay attention to this issue.
"The Modi government launched this programme to prevent outward migration from the border villages and 100 per cent saturation of schemes, instructed the officials to evict encroachments within 30 kilometres from the border and ensure that the daily supplies of the CAPFs and Army are sourced locally," he said.
The home minister, who unveiled a VVP logo at the event, said that after implementing the programme in Arunachal Pradesh, the population in many border villages has increased.
"This is a message for all our country's border villages that this trend of reverse migration to these villages is moving in the right direction," he said.
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