Agartala, December 6, 2025: Farmers living along the Indo-Bangladesh international border are facing severe hardships as their crops have been damaged by high-powered LED lights installed across the frontier. Hundreds of cultivators, particularly sharecroppers, have expressed despair after their paddy fields dried up under the constant glare of these lights, leaving them with no yield this season.

Farmers report that the LED lights, mounted nearly 30 feet high and kept on throughout the night, have scorched their paddy plants. Once green fields have turned brittle “like straw,” they said, resulting in complete crop failure. While earlier low-powered lights caused no significant damage, the new installations over the past year have had devastating effects.

The problem extends beyond crop damage. Fresh layers of soil have been laid just five meters inside Indian territory to reinforce barbed wire fencing. Farmers and agricultural laborers working near the fence often suffer cuts and injuries, sometimes bleeding heavily, while tending to their fields. Several such accidents have been reported in recent months.

In Kathalia block, most farmland near the border has been affected. Villages stretching from Uttar Paharpur to Dakshin Bhabanipur have seen their agricultural plots rendered nearly barren due to the lights. Farmers fear that if the situation continues, large tracts of land on the Indian side of the border will become completely unproductive.

Speaking to local reporters on Saturday, cultivators including Rahim Mia of Nirbhoypur, Shailen Sarkar, Haradhan De, and Narayan Majumdar said they had invested heavily in farming and endured physical labor, only to see their efforts wasted. “Who will compensate us for this loss?” they asked.

Farmers claim that when they approached the Border Security Force (BSF), officials said the matter was beyond their control. Local representatives, including members of the block panchayat and the area’s legislator, have promised to look into the issue but offered no concrete solutions.

The cultivators are now urging the government, particularly the Union Agriculture Minister, to take immediate action. They demand effective measures to protect their fields and adequate compensation for the losses already incurred. Without intervention, they warn, farming along the border could collapse entirely.