Choppers, anti-mine vehicles to aid BSF troopers
January 18th, 2011 - 4:08 pm ICT by IANSAgartala, Jan 18 (IANS) To further strengthen vigil along the border with Bangladesh, India’s border troopers are to use Dhruv light helicopters, mine protected vehicles (MPV) and other modern gadgets and devices, a top Border Security Force (BSF) officer said here Tuesday.”Considering the vulnerability and other security perceptions, we have to strengthen the surveillance along the international border with Bangladesh,” BSF’s Tripura frontier Inspector General Ashok Kumar Jain told IANS.
According to the senior Indian Police Service officer, some MPVs have already been introduced in a number of BSF units along the border while the choppers would be pressed into service by next month.
“The light chopper would provide a lot of aid to the troopers for quick deployment during any emergency and to supply foodstuff to the BOPs (border outposts) situated at inaccessible locations, besides also to intercept movement of militants of separatist outfits,” he stated.
Over 80 percent of the 856-km India-Bangladesh border in Tripura has already been fenced and work on the remaining portion is on. The ongoing construction of barbed wire fencing is expected to be completed by March 2012.
“Our close watch and guarding would be mainly along the unfenced, porous border,” the BSF official stated.
India and Bangladesh share 2,979-km land border and 1,116 km of riverine boundary in the Indian states of West Bengal (2,216 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km) and Assam (262 km).
Besides using night vision devices, the BSF is to introduce non-lethal weapons like batons, rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas along the border by next month.
“The specially made rubberised bullets would also be used on intruders, smugglers or miscreants. There is no chance of death, but the injured person would suffer severe pain,” he said.
According to the official, security forces are currently using non-lethal weapons only in Jammu and Kashmir to disperse violent mobs. Security personnel have also been using non-lethal weapons to deal with internal security troubles and crowds.
To ensure effective border management, the BSF authorities have also decided to establish more BOPs and deploy extra border guards along the border with Bangladesh.
“By setting up new BOPs to reduce the gap between two border stations from 4.5 km to 3.5 km and deployment of additional BSF troopers the vigil would be further tightened,” Jain added.
- Security tightened along Agartala border ahead of Hasina visit - Jan 08, 2012
- Security tightened along Tripura border ahead of Hasina's visit (Lead) - Jan 08, 2012
- Man killed in BSF firing in Tripura - May 31, 2012
- Strengten border security: Mizoram, Tripura governors - Oct 31, 2011
- Gold from Bangladesh seized, one detained - Sep 03, 2012
- India to erect single row fence along Bangladesh border - Sep 18, 2012
- BSF to use non-lethal arms along Bangladesh border - Mar 12, 2011
- Bangladeshi, trooper caught in Tripura handed back - Jul 06, 2012
- BSF trooper dies three days after Bangladeshis' attack - Feb 07, 2012
- India, Bangladesh border guards exchange saplings (With Image) - Aug 19, 2012
- India gives list of terror camps to Bangladesh - Sep 30, 2011
- BSF acted in self-defence, India tells Bangladesh - Dec 20, 2011
- India's BSF killed 136 Bangladeshis in two years: Dhaka - Mar 25, 2011
- India, Bangladesh border guards to meet every four months - Feb 03, 2012
- Indian's killing: Bangladesh given custody of border guard - Jan 21, 2012
Tags: ashok kumar, barbed wire fencing, border security force, bsf official, inaccessible locations, indian police service, indian states, international border, jammu and kashmir, land border, light chopper, light helicopters, mpvs, night vision devices, non lethal weapons, ongoing construction, rubber bullets, security perceptions, water cannon, west bengal