The Border Security Force (BSF) guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border in India’s northeast has intensified its vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh border and trying to strengthen the gaps in the border, particularly in the riverine border between the two countries to stop the Rohingyas refugees from Myanmar to sneak into this side.
Inspector General of the BSF (Assam Frontier) Rakesh Agarwala said this to The Pioneer on Sunday and added that a high level committee instituted by the Central Government will be inspecting Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam and Meghalaya from October 10 to October 14.
He said that the vigil along the border has been intensified since the beginning of the Rohingyas problem in Myanmar and subsequent to thousands of Rohingyas fleeing the country and taking shelter in Bangladesh.
“There are gaps along the Indo-Bangladesh border and these gaps are very vulnerable to infiltration. We are trying our best to man these gaps and improve the surveillance to foil any single infiltration bid,” said the IG.
IT may be mentioned here that out of the 262 kms of Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam, 48 kms is riverine border on River Brahmaputra.
“We are taking additional measures to ensure that there is no infiltration of Rohingyas. The infiltration from Bangladesh to India through Assam and other parts of the northeast has reduced over the years. However, the bid cannot be ruled out in the wake of crisis faced by the Rohingyas in Myanmar,” Agarwala said.
“The BSF has inducted a new battalion to man the gap along the Indo-Bangladesh border, particularly in the riverine border,” he said.
“There are electric surveillance and we are also using technology where there are reaction mechanism if there are infiltration bid through the international borders,” he said.
The BSF has been using technologies like hand held thermal images ((HHTI), long-Range Reconnaissance and Observation System (lORROS), Battle Field Surveilance Radar (BFSR) etc to man the International border between the two neighbouring countries.