To prevent infiltration and flow of arms, ammunition and drugs from Pakistan’s side, the Indian authorities are replacing damaged barbed-wire fences along the international border, said Border Security Force DIG (Gurdaspur sector) NK Mishra on Thursday.
The barbed-wire fences, erected along the Indo-Pak border in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Ferozepur districts of Punjab during the days of militancy in the 80s, were damaged due to flood and other reasons, Mishra said.
The damaged fencing is being replaced in the periphery that falls in Gurdaspur sector, where it gets affected due to flood in rivers and their tributaries, he said.
The border area of Gurdaspur sector is 116-km long from Jammu to Ajnala in Amritsar district, and is mostly riverine area of Ravi, he said.
Moreover, earlier the fencing was erected on soil which worn out over time, now the barbed wire is being erected on concrete base. The concrete base would be 12-feet high and eight feet wide, he said, adding that the work was being executed by the Central Public Works Department.
The replacing of damaged barbed wire on the international border would not only further strengthen the external security of the country, but also help farmers living on the borders to protect their crops from animals across the fence, he added.
Mishra said that there are well-lit barbed wire fencing, flood light backed by sound and other devices, thermal imagers, and other equipment installed, along with manual patrolling, in sensitive gaps to ensure that no infiltration takes place from across the border.