New Delhi: Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Thursday (October 22) reviewed the progress of the ongoing Indo-Myanmar border fencing work with senior state officials and representatives of the agencies involved in the work.Five districts of Manipur, namely Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, Chandel, Kamjong and Ukhrul, share a 398-kilometre-long unfenced international border with Myanmar.The chief secretary, security advisor, director general of police (DGP), additional chief secretary, commissioner (home), officers of the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) and Assam Rifles attended the meeting. Officials from Churachandpur, Chandel Kamjong, Tengnoupal and Ukhrul districts joined the meeting virtually. Commanding officer, 25 BRTF, made a presentation on the progress of the fencing works.According to a report by Economic Times, the BRO has commenced fencing work along the India-Myanmar border in the general area of Moreh in Tengnoupal district but only 10 km of international border with Myanmar is fenced near Moreh so far.The work is undertaken by Project Sewak, an anonymous source told the daily.According to Northeast Now, the review was held after a field visit on October 21 by Manipur DGP Mukesh Singh, senior police officials and Border Security Force (BSF) officials in Kamjong district to assess the law and order situation.In January 2024, Union home minister Amit Shah had announced that India was going to fence its 1,643 km porous border with Myanmar and discontinue the free movement regime (FMR), that allowed people living on either side of the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa and stay for up to two weeks. Many people share cross-border familial and ethnic ties.The fencing comes at a cost of Rs 31,000 crore. Manipur is one of four states which share a border with Myanmar; the others are Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.With FMR discontinued, movement of people was restricted to 43 designated crossing points, and granted to only those who hold border passes issued by Assam Rifles. Of these, nine are in Nagaland.