India to spend $3.7 billion to fence Myanmar border, source says

FILE PHOTO: Mountain roads are pictured in the Champhai district of India's northeastern state of Mizoram, near the India-Myanmar border, March 13, 2021. Picture taken March 13, 2021. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to spend nearly $3.7 billion to fence its 1,610-km (1,000-mile) porous border with Myanmar within about a decade, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, to prevent smuggling and other illegal activities.

New Delhi said earlier this year it would fence the border and end a decades-old visa-free movement policy with coup-hit Myanmar for border citizens for reasons of national security and to maintain the demographic structure of its northeastern region.