[ Neelabh Srivastava ]
HAZARIBAG, 1 Dec: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that India’s two major borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh will be completely secured in the next two years, with work underway to plug gaps in about 60 kms stretch along these two fronts.
Shah was speaking after taking salute from a ceremonial parade of the Border Security Force (BSF) on the occasion of its 59th raising day celebrations here in Jharkhand.
The minister said that the Narendra Modi government has fenced and plugged gaps in about 560 kms of the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders in the last nine years since it came to power at the Centre.
He said that all the gaps in these two borders on India’s western and eastern flank, respectively, are being plugged and work in only about 60 kms is continuing.
“In the next two years we will entirely secure these two borders,” Shah said.
The two borders – 2,290 kms of India-Pakistan International Border and 4,096 kms of India-Bangladesh border – are marked by long riverine, mountainous and marshy areas where it is very difficult to erect fences, and hence the BSF and other agencies use technical gadgets to check infiltration.
“I firmly believe that a country cannot develop and prosper if its borders are not secure. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led the country to the moon with the Chandrayaan mission, G20 summit and brought the economy from the 11th to the fifth spot, and this was all possible due to our forces deployed for securing the borders, like the BSF,” he said.
“You, the BSF, are the essential pillar of this journey,” the minister told the BSF personnel at the ‘Meru’ training camp here.
“I believe that the border fence does not alone protect the country; it only helps in rendering this task. It is the brave BSF jawan who does this task,” he said.
The border force, about 2.65 lakhs in strength, was raised on 1 December, 1965, and is primarily tasked to guard the over 6,386 km-long Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The home minister asserted that whenever a BJP government took the reins of power in the country, border security was prioritised, from the government of former PM AB Vajpayee to the Modi government.
While Atal Ji’s (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) government brought an “integrated” approach for border security, the Modi government assimilated security, development and democratic processes along with strong infrastructure and initiation of welfare measures for the local population living on the front, he said.
“We strengthened rail, road, waterways and telephone communication connectivity, apart from land trade,” he said.
The home minister said that his government created 452 new border posts, 510 observation towers, and got electricity connection to 637 borders posts, while 500 such facilities have been linked with piped water across various fronts over the last nine years.
Talking about left-wing extremism (LWE), Shah said that “the country is close to eliminating this armed and violent movement being carried out by Maoist cadres.”
In the last ten years, he said, incidents of Naxal violence have gone down by 52 per cent, deaths in these incidents declined by 70 per cent, and the number of affected police stations has come down from 495 to 176.
“The last strike against LWE by forces like the BSF, CRPF and ITBP is in the process. We are determined to end Naxalism in the country,” he said.
The minister added that as many as 199 new security forces camps have been established in the LWE affected areas over the last 10 years.
“I am sure we will win this battle,” he said.
In the last 10 years of the Modi government, we have been able to win the battle in the “hotspots” of Jammu and Kashmir, LWE and insurgency in the Northeast and the security forces have been able to establish their domination in Jammu & Kashmir, he said. (PTI)