NEW DELHI, Nov. 13—Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, returning from a three‐week Western tour, said today that the military confrontation with Pakistan was becoming “less and less tolerable.”

In her 10‐minute airport meeting with the press, she carefully avoided giving any hint of what steps she was contemplating to deal with the border crisis.

Mrs. Gandhi, who received daily cable reports on the border clashes while she was visiting five European countries and the United States, will confer with her Cabinet and military chiefs over the weekend. On Monday, she will face a hawkish Parliament that is demanding open support of the Bengali independence fight in East Pakistan, if not total war against Pakistan.

Leaders Greet Her

The 53‐year‐old Prime Minister, smiling but looking somewhat tired as she descended from her chartered Air‐India Boeing‐707, was greeted by several hundred Government officials, foreign diplomats and members of her New Congress party—as well as a crowd of about 1,000 people outside the airport shouting “Indira Gandhi Zindabad” (Victory to Indira Gandhi).

At the press enclosure, she fended off most questions with noncommittal answers.

“How long do you think it will take India, Pakistan or the world to bring about a settlement of the Bangla Desh (Bengal Nation) Issue?” she was asked.

“I don't think one can set a date for it,” she replied.

“Do you think the Bangla Desh problem can be solved without a war?” she was asked.

“This has, also been exercising my mind and the minds of the leaders I met,” she answered.

Mrs. Gandhi declined to say whether she was thinking of declaring a national emergency, but when a newsman recalled a remark she had made abroad that the border situation could not be tolerated for long, she replied: “I think it is obvious. If tension keeps on increasing, it becomes less and less tolerable.”

Asked about reports in the foreign press that she and President Nixon had found “no common ground” in their talks last week, she said this was “not entirely correct.” She did not elaborate.

The situation on the border with East Pakistan seems much graver now than when Mrs. Gandhi embarked on Oct. 24 and some diplomatic observers here think the step‐up in military activity could get out of hand.

Troops of Pakistan and India have crossed into each other's territory, with Indian units reported to have entered in force an at least two occasions this month. Casualties on both sides are reported heavy. In some respects, there is already an undeclared war.

Insurgents More Active

The battles between Indian and Pakistani troops are a direct outgrowth of the sharply increased activities of the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Forces). These Bengali insurgents have Indian support and are now making large‐scale attempts to seize and hold sizable areas in East Pakistan. They already hold some strategic areas, but Pakistan has counterattacked with heavy artillery and mortar and with strafing by jets.

Each time the insurgents launch a major assault on Pakistani positions, the Pakistanis shell their base camps, some in India. The Pakistanis are also reported to have shelled civilian population centers on the Indian side.

As the shelling has become severe — and also, apparently, when the insurgents are in serious trouble — Indian ground troops are said to have moved in and engaged the Pakistanis before returning to Indian soil.