BSF wants flood lights on the Indo-Bangla border

Sutarkandi (Indo-Bangladesh border), Dec 7: The Border Security Force (BSF) has sought floodlights along the Indo-Bangladesh border to eliminate infiltration, exfiltration and smuggling.

''With no floodlights, it is very difficult to maintain the border at night as our posts are at a distance of about 1.5 Km, enough for the infiltrators to give a try '' said Inspector K P Kuniyal.

He is too low in the rank to demand even as the final responsibility rests on him, but the BSF officers from Sub Inspector to the top rung said floodlights were a must.

So far in the Indo-Bangladesh border floodlights had not been arranged by the Ministry of Home Affairs. To prove the point Kuniyal took the correspondent in the middle of the night and allowed him to roam around on the border road.

With no lights in the entire horizon, it was a surreal experience to stand on the border specially when it is so much infested by the populace. The visibility was less than three feet and two sentries were manning an area of 1.5 Km.

''If some one wants, not one but hundreds can silently slip through cutting the fence if there is no light. We must have light.

Besides each post should be in eye contact with the other. We are far too spread,'' he said.

BSF is planning to deploy more personnel along the Indo-Bangla border as investigations into terrorist attacks in the country have found that militants are ''freely using'' the porous frontier to enter India.

The force feels that the 4095-km-long border is going to be a ''problem area'' in the coming days as despite the best efforts, BSF was finding it difficult to stop infiltration fully, given the challenging nature of the region.

''Earlier the focus used to be Kashmir. Now it has shifted to the East, which I personally feel is going to be the problem area for tomorrow,'' BSF Director General A K Mitra said to newsmen recently. Figures available with the BSF show that 8,196 persons were nabbed along the Indo-Bangla border while trying to enter the country this year as against 11,000 last year, a dip which officials claim was due to the tight vigil.

''Infiltration and cattle smuggling continue along Indo-Bangla border in varying degrees...We used to have 50 battalions there. Now it stands at 66 and we propose to induct a few more battalions,'' he added.

Initially it was economic migration, but of late investigations into various terror operations taking place in the hinterland has found that Bangladesh border was being freely used by militants to enter India, he said.

Infiltration and border crimes have come down, drug smuggling has gone up and the very induction of more troops was an indicator that it was a 'much larger problem'' than it was perceived to be, he said.

According to BSF officials, more than one lakh cattle worth about Rs 83 crore and 16 Kg of high-quality heroin with a street value of Rs 16 crore were seized from smugglers along the Indo-Bangla border this year.

''The dip in infiltration was largely because of extra force there and the use of gadgetry like hand-held thermal imagers.

Fencing has also helped,'' Mr Mitra said and attributed the present lull to elections in Bangladesh.

''We will be able to identify our concerns once the elections in Bangladesh are over. Now they are too busy in their own problems,'' he said when asked whether the force is concerned over ISI support to Jehadi elements.

UNI