India to mobilise huge resources

India is planning to deploy pontoon bridges, sluice gates and airships along its Assam border to prevent illegal entries of Bangladeshis into the country.

The move to plug the riverine and vulnerable patches along a 60-kilometre stretch of the border is part of the BJP government's decision to seal the frontier completely by June next year to check the alleged illegal immigration.

With the help of high-resolution cameras, a stricter vigilance would be in place on the porous border, officials privy to the development said yesterday.

The Border Security Force (BSF), which is under federal Indian government, has constituted a team of senior officials to achieve the objective by involving officials from Assam state authorities and those from institutions like Indian Institute of Technology.

As per a blueprint prepared in this regard, 60.7-km long Assam's border with Bangladesh is to be plugged by deploying smart technology and non-physical barriers.

In riverine areas, pontoon bridges are proposed to be laid so that BSF personnel can patrol and make observation posts atop them to monitor any movement along the border where rivers and rivulets run.

Of the 284-km India-Bangladesh border that falls in Assam, about 224-km is fenced. India shares a total of 4,096-km frontier with Bangladesh. 

Also, it is proposed to build over two dozen sluice gates on the rivers, including in Dhubri area, so that the flow of water can be controlled and regulated.

Officials said the Indian border force can also create some permanent watch towers in the area marked by dense jungles.

BSF Director General K K Sharma and Additional DG A P Maheshwari had recently travelled to Assam and also briefed Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal about the survey and analysis they conducted in the border areas.

The decision to seal Assam's border with Bangladesh by June 2017 was taken at a high-level meeting of the Indian home ministry in New Delhi last week. In the run up to the Assembly elections in Assam, BJP had promised to seal the border in the state completely.

Yesterday, BJP's highest policy-making forum National Executive adopted a resolution at its meeting in Allahabad alleging Assam faced a “Himalayan threat of demographic invasion due to unchecked infiltration from Bangladesh.”

Meanwhile, the Indian government yesterday announced that Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair a meeting of Indian home ministers, chief secretaries and directors general of police of coastal states, including West Bengal, and federally-ruled territories, in Mumbai on June 16.

The meeting will discuss, among other issues, speedy implementation of coastal security scheme and crossing of International Maritime Boundary Line by fishermen, said an official statement.