New Delhi: BSF Director General (DG) Pankaj Kumar Singh has said the country’s largest Border Security Force will not act as a parallel police and the powers to investigate and file chargesheet continue to remain with the state police.

“We wish to categorically dismiss rumors and dispel the misinformation on this matter - that BSF will usurp the power of the local police. The new provisions are only enabling and shall in no way interfere with the powers of the state police, mandated to register cases, investigate and file chargesheet,” said Singh in BSF’s Annual Press Meet on the eve of 57th Raising Day of the force here on Tuesday.

In a Gazette notification on October 11, the Ministry of Home Affairs had announced that it was amending a notification of 2014 regarding the BSF jurisdiction along borders where it was deployed. The MHA notification outlined the new jurisdiction as “whole of the area comprised in the states of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya and Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and so much of the area comprised within a belt of fifty kilometres in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, running along the borders of India”. The range was standardized at 50 km from earlier 15 km, and the DG said, too much should not be read into it.

Singh also emphasized that the notifications issued by the Centre were essentially in the context of The Passports Act and the Passport (Entry Into India) Act with the earlier dealing with people going out of the country and the latter with the people entering into the country. The senior IPS officer, who recently took over as DG of BSF, said the government ‘standardized’ 50-km area from the border in all border states manned by BSF so that the ‘forces can easily move from one theatre to the other.’

Highlighting that the decision would help the BSF and the state police in effectively curbing trans-border crimes like smuggling of narcotics and weapons among others, Singh said the new norm would come into force ‘step by step’ as “we have to see whether we need to establish (new) posts to have some backup.”

The BSF guards over 6,300-km of Indian fronts with Pakistan on the west and Bangladesh on the east of the country. The BSF has a strength of about 2.65 lakh personnel at present. Raised on December 1, 1965, the BSF has 192 operational battalions at present and is the country’s largest border guarding force with ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles being the other three.

Singh said the BSF is the only force of the nation with a distinctly defined war-time as well as peace-time roles and has successfully proved its mettle in accomplishing every task assigned in times of war, peace and no-war-no-peace (NWNP) situation.

The BSF is also tasked to ensure policing of border areas during peace and check trans-border crimes thereby inculcating a sense of security in the border population. It is supported by an artillery regiment, air and water wings, camel contingent and dog squads, commando units, communication set-up, robust training infrastructure and a well-equipped medical set up.

Talking about initiatives to bring in more resilience in the force, senior IPS officer Singh said that adequate technological and surveillance methodologies have been incorporated to deal with new emerging threats along the western border including vulnerable patches for effective border domination. Border floodlights are being replaced with new LED lights, and the installation of an anti-drone system is in progress in sensitive areas.

DRONES AND DRUGS

Singh said that drones, carrying narcotics in 95 per cent cases, are flying over from across the border into Punjab and Jammu regions, which are a cause of concern. Accordingly, technology solutions are being scouted actively.

“We have installed some kind of anti-drone systems at the border and they are working fairly ok but we are in the process of getting more and more technology,” said the DG, adding that covering the entire 2,300-km of India-Pakistan border with an anti-drone system will cost a lot. So, a ‘trade-off’ can be thought upon. Anti-drone technology is our top priority, he said. 

BSF is also deployed in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas in Malkangiri and Koraput in Odisha and Kanker , Kondagaon and Narayanpur in Chattisgarh. During this period, to counter the influence of Maoist activities in remote forest areas, BSF has established new COBs in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Due to deployment of BSF and establishment of new COBs, many developmental activities have started in the interior areas of the deployment. 

On its Raising Day, the Force also paid homage to 1934 brave hearts for their supreme sacrifice and valour in the line of duty. “In the current year total 11 BSF personnel have laid down their lives while protecting the sanctity of our borders. Till date, BSF Personnel have been awarded with 1 Mahavir Chakra, 13 Vir Chakra, 4 Kirti Chakra, 13 Shaurya Chakra, 56 Sena Medal, 232 PPMsG and 968 PMsG. 70,193 BSF personnel were awarded with Police Antrik Suraksha Seva Padak on 21.05.2021,” said a release.