'Smart fence along Bangla border in Assam by July'

A project to plug border gaps and deploy a "smart fence" along the riverine India-Bangladesh front in Assam is expected to be completed by July next year, the BSF chief said here on Sunday.

Border Security Force (BSF) Director General (DG) V K Johri said the project got delayed by about six months as the region received heavy rains, resulting in floods, this year.

The earlier deadline was December 2019, he added.

The BSF chief was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) DG Maj. Gen. Shafeenul Islam.

"The work is in the stage of execution and it should be completed by July 2020," Johri said.

The BSF has been working to deploy a "smart fence", powered by technical surveillance and alarm gadgetry, at an about 55-km-long stretch in Dhubri, across the Brahmaputra river in Assam.

This border area is highly prone to illegal migration and cattle smuggling due to the changing course of the mighty river.

A similar fence has been deployed by the BSF in the Jammu region, along the Pakistan border, as part of its Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS).

The BSF is mandated as the primary force to guard the 4,096-km-long International Border (IB) with Bangladesh.