Indian security apparatus gears up for Nepal elections

New Delhi, Mar 24 (UNI) The Indian security establishment is all geared up for the forthcoming elections in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, a senior security official has said.

DG, Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB) Gopal Sharma said here that the paramilitary force guarding the porous 1751 km long Indo-Nepal border has set up a control room and was carrying out special monitoring to ensure peace during the April 10 elections in Nepal.

''The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked states to ensure co-ordination with SSB ahead of the elections in the Himalayan Kingdom,'' he told reporters here.

The SSB has already started mobilising force to the international border and was co-ordinating with state police forces.

Sources, meanwhile, said the Indo-Nepal border would be sealed four days before the elections in Nepal on April 10. The MHA will hold a high-level meeting with states orderig Nepal on April 1.

Since January, 2001, SSB was declared as a border guarding force and lead intelligence agency (LIA) for Indo-Nepal border and assigned the task of guarding the 1751 km long Indo-Nepal border along the states of Uttarakhand (275 km), Uttar Pradesh (551 km), Bihar (726 km), West Bengal(100 km) and Sikkim (99 km).

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