Apprehending trouble, scores of Indian villagers have begun fleeing the areas adjoining the Bangladesh border, where 213 migrants remained stranded for the sixth day on Wednesday.
The BSF had put about 5000 villagers living along the Cooch Behar sector in West Bengal on alert after it detected that Bangladeshi border troops were digging trenches inside their territory and moving vehicles.
Scores of mostly women and children were seen moving to safer places with their belongings in anticipation of trouble as India announced its resolve to deport the 213-member group of migrants which it says are Bangladeshis who tried to enter the country illegally.
Bangladesh is also adamant in its claim that the migrants were Indians. "We don't want to wait till trouble breaks out. We have been told there could be trouble," a villager of Satgachi near the border told reporters on Wednesday.
Many of the men, however, were staying back to guard
Repeated flag meetings between the Border Security Force and the Bangladesh Rifles have failed to resolve the dispute over the identity of the migrants, who have been suffering silently under the open sky since they were caught on Friday.
The group consists of 80 children and 65 women. Many of them had fallen sick and were being administered medicine by BSF doctor Anant Kumar. The Red Cross has sent food material and medicines for the migrants.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, who has said Dhaka will have to take back the migrants, is slated to discuss the standoff with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Wednesday afternoon on his return from Singapore.
BSF chief Ajay Raj Singh has reportedly said the troops would not balk from using force to deport the migrants, if need be.