SILCHAR: BSF personnel deployed vehicles and opened border gates early on Thursday to help at least 70 families living beyond the barbed-wire fence along the India-Bangladesh border in Assam’s Sribhumi district reach polling stations and cast their votes, turning the exercise into a strong assertion of identity for residents of Karimganj South assembly constituency. The voters are from five villages – Gabindapur, Uttar Lafasail, Tesua, Deutoli and Maishashan – that lie outside the fencing and are physically cut off from the Indian mainland. “BSF opened the gates early and helped us reach the polling booths in their own vehicles. It was a huge convenience,” said a local voter. After polling, BSF personnel dropped the villagers back home. “We are sincere about voting because it reassures us that we are Indians, and not just residents of a forgotten st-rip of land,” the voter added. Sources said BSF had also facilitated electioneering in the run-up to polling by managing border gates and allowing candidates and their supporters to enter these remote settlements near the Zero Line. The villages remain outside the fence because of India-Bangladesh protocol, which bars permanent construction or fencing within 150 yards of the actual border. Residents of these settlements live under tight movement restrictions, with border gates usually shut from 7pm to 6am. “In case of emergencies, we are always there to help and transport them to the nea-rby town, even after stipulated hours,” a BSF official said. Govt is working to rehabilitate villages located outside the fence in Sribhumi. The district shares a 92-km border with Bangladesh. In neighbouring Cachar district, which has a 32-km border with Bangladesh, all villages that had once remained outside the fencing have been rehabilitated within the barbed-wire perimeter over the past few years. Efforts are now under way to similarly relocate families in Sribhumi.