Wagah-like gate for Indo-Bangla border in Assam

Smart gadgets and a Wagah-like gate on the Pakistan border are set to add more teeth to Border Security Forces (BSF) to check illegal infiltration and cross border crime through Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam.

Home minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate a smart fencing project on Tuesday that is set to bridge the 44-km riverine border in the Brahmaputra in Dhubri in western Assam, where fencing could not be put up, despite decades-long demand for the same.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also sanctioned Rs 5 crore for construction of a Wagha-like gate in the Indian side of the border with Bangladesh in South Assam’s Karimganj district. Survey work of the gate is underway.

BSF officials told DH that under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System project in Dhubri, optical fibres sensors have been put up underwater of the Brahmaputra, Gadadhor and Ginjiram rivers, electronic signals and radars will keep watch on the surface water while camera-fitted drones will hover in the air to monitor the riverine borders.

“The land border has been fenced but cross border crime like cattle and drug smuggling is going on through the riverine border. Smart fencing will bridge the gaps and help us guard the border better,” a BSF official said.

Of the 4,156-km Indo-Bangladesh border, Assam share 263-km including 163-km in Dhubri. There are 21 border out-posts of BSF guarding the border. “Besides there will be fixed and moving cameras, which will keep watch and send feeds to the three control rooms including one in our sector headquarters at Panbari in Dhubri. Based on the feeds provided by these electronic surveillance systems, our personnel on land and water will act,” said the source.

Sealing the border is one of the promises in the Assam Accord of 1985, which was signed following the six-year-long anti-foreigners movement in Assam. All Assam Students’ Union, one of the signatories of the accord have been questioning why the border has not been sealed even after nearly 33-years and illegal migration had changed the state’s demography.

The project was scheduled to be completed in December last year but according to sources, the BJP-led government delayed the same so that it could inaugurate it before the Lok Sabha elections. After inaugurating the smart fending project, home minister will address a rally near Dhubri town. BJP government in Assam have said protecting the state from illegal migration is one of its prime focuses.