India to introduce new technology to secure its borders

Indian government will soon be introducing new technology to secure its borders. Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India will lay a network of radars, CCTV cameras, laser fences and motion sensors to fill the existing gaps and secure its international borders. “Under a pilot project work, the porous borders in Gujarat, West Bengal, Tripura and Punjab will be secured using technological solutions,” said Singh during his visit to the BSF border outpost on the Indo-Pak border at Nadabet in Banaskantha district of Gujarat.

“We have decided to secure our borders using technological solutions. We have taken a few steps under a comprehensive integrated border management scheme under which technological solutions will be used to fill the existing gaps in our borders,” he added felicitating family members of about 20 BSF men from Gujarat who laid down lives on the line of duty since early 1990s. He also felicitated gallantry award winners of the BSF.

According to him the government has already ordered a pilot project in Gujarat, Punjab (that shares borders with Pakistan), West Bengal (has borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) and Tripura (that is surrounded by Bangladesh on North, South and West directions). Singh also claimed there has been a 50 percent reduction in “successful infiltration” on the Indo-Pak border.

The decision to start a pilot project of using technology to secure borders came after the Modi government announced that it will be completely sealing the borders of Assam with Bangladesh in the coming months.

Gujarat alone shares a total of 508 kilometer of porous international border with Pakistan. The government had sanctioned construction of 340 kilometer of border fencing in the state, out of which work of about 264 kilometer has been completed. Due to extreme nature of topography, it is not only difficult to fence the borders in Gujarat, but the existing fencing and its foundation are prone to corrosion by salty water and heavy inundation.