The news said Bangladesh nationals, backed by Bangladesh army, uprooted boundary pillars along the Indo-Bangladesh border in two districts of Assam grabbing 500 acres of Indian territory.

"The Border Security Force (BSF) is on high alert and no fresh adverse possession or illegal occupation of Indian land has been reported in any section," Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a suo moto statement in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

He said no Indian population or border outpost had been moved from the international border.

The newspaper reports had alleged Bangladeshi nationals backed by their army had grabbed land in Dhubri and Karimganj districts of Assam.

Mukherjee said India and Bangladesh have adverse possession of land in certain pockets but exact details were yet to be reconciled by the two nations. Efforts to do so continue, he added.

He said in Assam, there were three areas in adverse possession of Bangladesh which covered 189.06 acres in Boraibari in Dhubri district, 299.04 acres in Pallatal Tea garden and another 11.73 acres in Pamodnagar Tea garden, both in Karimganj district. Thus, the total area in adverse possession of Bangladesh is 499.83 acres.

This issue has been under discussion with Bangladesh and was also discussed at the meeting of the Joint Boundary Working Group held in Dhaka earlier this month.

It was decided that joint visits by the two sides to the territories under adverse possession would take place without prejudice to their respective positions, he added.

The minister said no intrusion by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) or Bangladesh nationals have been reported recently from the area of Mankachar in Dhubri district.

Meanwhile, a senior Indian home ministry official will visit certain areas along the Indo-Bangla border in Assam today in the wake of reports that Bangladesh has deployed increased number of troops and dug fresh trenches at 'certain pockets' along the border.

Indian Home Secretary VK Duggal asked Secretary [Border Management] to the Union Home Ministry BS Lalli to visit the border areas and submit a report by Monday, sources in the ministry said.

The on-the-spot inquiry assumes significance as BSF troops patrolling the border areas of North Bengal and Assam frontier have reported build-up of forces and construction of defensive structures in 'select patches' on the Bangladeshi side.

The sources said Assam government and the BSF have also been asked to send a status report.

They said though Indian border officials have given several letters of protest through institutional channels, there has been no official reply from Bangladesh Rifles so far.

However, they said there was no cause for any alarm and the situation along the 4095-km border was well under control.