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CALCUTTA, Nov 19 (AFP) - The provincial chief of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal Buddhadev Bhattacharya announced on Monday that a "special force" would be raised to guard India's border with Bangladesh.

Bhattacharya has alleged that Bangladeshi Hindus have been pouring into India to escape atrocities on members of the country's minority Hindu community after the Islamist-allied Bangladesh Nationalist Party government came to power in last month's general election.

"I have discussed the Bangladeshi infiltration into West Bengal with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. We also talked about the formation of a special force to check the influx into the state," said Bhattacharya.

"The prime minister has consented to the proposal," he added. "I have also urged the prime minister to deploy the special force along West Bengal's entire border with Bangladesh to beef up security on all fronts."

Bangladeshi officials earlier downplayed Indian media accounts about the atrocities and dismissed reports of a Hindu exodus as propaganda.

On November 9, however, the Bangladeshi government pledged to investigate the reported migration. A committee headed by the principal secretary to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has been asked to submit a report on the situation.

The West Bengal state government said a large number of refugees were camping at different villages in the nine districts of the state bordering Bangladesh.

Bhattacharya said his administration had prepared a report on the Bangladeshi refugee influx which it had tabled before the union governmnet.

"West Bengal needs at least 34 batalions of Border Security Force guards to keep vigil on the 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) stretch of border we share with Bangladesh," said the provinicial chief.

The provincial chief added that the special force was needed because India's "porous border" with Bangladesh was unfenced in most places.

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