NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday announced that the Center will soon launch a technology-based ‘smart border’ project using drones, radars, smart cameras and other advanced surveillance systems to make the 6,000-km front with Pakistan and Bangladesh ‘impenetrable’ and reduce infiltration.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Border Security Force and the Rustomji Memorial Lecture in the capital, Shah said the project aims to create an integrated border security network over the next year by deploying modern technologies along the country’s most vulnerable borders.
Shah said: “The government and the Ministry of Interior will provide technological support to transform the country’s borders into smart borders. Work is progressing towards creating an impenetrable border security network over the next year by integrating all types of technologies within the framework of the smart border concept.”
He added: “The Ministry of Interior will soon introduce a smart border project equipped with drones, modern radars, cameras and other advanced technologies. Once this initiative begins, the work of the border guard forces will become significantly easier and stronger.”
KF Rustamji was the founding father and first Director General of the Border Security Forces, the world’s largest border guarding force with around 2.70 lakh personnel tasked with guarding India’s borders with Pakistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east. It was raised in 1965.
Shah described these two borders as “weak” and a “source of concern” for the country in terms of security, and said that these fronts (about 1,289 kilometers with Pakistan and 4,096 kilometers with Bangladesh) cannot be guarded by “traditional” methods. He said that this border is currently facing threats such as illegal infiltration, smuggling of drugs and weapons via drones apart from livestock, fake Indian currency and organized crime.
“It is very important to identify future risks and it is our responsibility to stop attempts at artificial demographic change from the other side (of the border) through infiltration. For this we have to remain alert and vigilant. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government has decided to not only stop infiltration but also identify and expel every infiltrator from the country,” he told the officers and soldiers present.
The Union Minister said border security now requires coordination between state police forces, central armed police forces, armed forces, Narcotics Control Bureau, intelligence agencies and state departments.
He said the governments of Tripura, Assam and West Bengal – led by the BJP – are committed to preventing infiltration and the Union Home Ministry will soon hold a meeting with the chief ministers of the three states to enhance coordination on border security.
“The governments in Tripura, Assam and West Bengal are committed to preventing infiltration, and the Border Security Forces should work in coordination with them. Very soon, the Home Ministry will hold a meeting with the chief ministers and make plans to ensure there is no infiltration,” he added.
At the event, Shah also announced that the Center would soon launch a major nationwide anti-drug drive in which the Border Security Forces would play a key role.
He said that fencing work had resumed in parts of West Bengal after the state government handed over land needed for the project to the Border Security Forces. Fencing work has begun in north Bengal’s Vansidwa area of Darjeeling district after remaining stalled for more than a decade, people familiar with the matter said. Reducing infiltration was one of the most important campaign objectives of the BJP during the recent assembly elections in West Bengal.
Shah said the next few years will see major changes in border security through increased use of technology, but added that this will also increase the responsibilities of border guarding forces. “The next three to four years will bring transformative changes in border security. While technology will enhance capabilities, it will also increase responsibilities,” he added, urging Border Security personnel to improve coordination with local communities and civil administrations to help make India “infiltration-free.”
