Sagar Biswas :The Director General [DG]- level meeting between Border Guard Bangladesh [BGB] and Border Security Force [BSF] of India, scheduled to begin today [Wednesday] at BGB headquarters in Dhaka, has been postponed following the accident of a BSF chartered plane that killed 17 people on Tuesday.According to the Indian media, the plane chartered by the BSF, crashed into a wall and burst into flames near Indira Gandhi International Airport, on the outskirts of the Indian capital, New Delhi, killing all 17 people on board.Officials said that a technical fault was developed in the BSF chattered plane just two minutes after it took-off for Ranchi. The pilot tried to return back to airport, but failed as he had lost wireless contact with the control tower. The small chartered plane, usually used to carry VIPs, crashed at Bogdola village near the airport at about 9:30 am [Indian time]. The villagers rushed to the spot seeing the burning plane and joined the rescue operation. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited the spot after the accident. The flight operation at Indira Gandhi International Airport was suspended for a few hours following the plane crash, according to officials. Director of Delhi Fire Service AK Sharma told the media that about 18 fire fighting vehicles rushed to the spot when the plane fell into a small water body near the airport. “Primarily, the investigating officials suspected that technical fault was the main reason behind the accident. However, Indian State Minister for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma has instructed to initiate a full-scale investigation to unearth the fact,” the Fire Director said.Meanwhile, the BGB yesterday issued a handout, signed by Mohsin Reza, Public Relations Officer of BGB, to clarify the reason behind the cancellation of the meeting.The handout said, ‘The BSF DG Shri Devendra Kumar Pathak cancelled his prescheduled Dhaka trip after ten BGB officials, including two DIGs, were killed in the plane crash. So, the biennial DG -level border conference [from December 23 to December 27] in Dhaka has been postponed.””To join the meeting, a group of 10 BGB officials reached Dhaka on Tuesday morning. Besides, it was fixed that BSF DG along with 13 other BSF officials would arrive Dhaka same evening [Tuesday],” the BGB handout said.It continued, “The BGB DG Major General Aziz Ahmed phoned to BSF DG to convey his condolence after the tragic death of 10 BSF officials. In this regard, the BGB DG and BSF DG have decided to fix a new date for bilateral conference. We will inform the fresh date for the meeting later.” “A part from tele-conversation, the BGB Chief also issued a written condolence message where he expressed deep sorrow and sympathy to the family members of the victims,” it said.
