Calcutta, Oct. 28: In a two-pronged ploy to bring down infiltration across the Bangladesh border, the Border Security Force has requested the state government to relocate about 70 villages on the Zero Line in Bengal and initiated a move to create a databank of infiltrators.

BSF additional director-general (east) S.I.S. Ahmed said the force recently surveyed areas along 2,200 km of the Bengal-Bangladesh border and identified about 300 villages that were very close to it. Among the 300, about 70 are on the Zero Line or next to it.

These villages pose problems for BSF personnel, who have been asked to step up vigil.

?We have asked the state government to relocate at least 70-80 villages on the Bengal side. Once these villages are relocated, we will be in a much better position to cover the entire border,? Ahmed told The Telegraph.

?I am told that the government is actively considering our proposal,? he added.

The decision to request relocation was taken after the BSF concluded that the villages on the Zero Line were providing safe haven to Bangladeshis trying to sneak in. The intruders hide in the villages for long spells before pushing in.

Political parties, especially the Forward Bloc, have been criticising the BSF over the past few years and complaining of harassment by its personnel on the pretext of combing.

Ahmed, who is in charge of the entire 4,097 km-long Bangladesh border, stretching across Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya, said fencing on about 40 per cent of the distance has been completed.

Information on intruders caught in the net will be shared with intelligence officers in the eastern region, said the BSF officer.

Detailing the plan to connect all BSF units in the east, Ahmed said the intruders are now being asked to fill a form giving details of their place of origin, purpose of the sneak-in and other information. ?We have also begun to photograph them and keep their thumb impressions. All the information is being stored for future reference.?