Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-government decided to gift people of Assam a system to 'effectively’ check illegal immigration along the India Bangladesh border – an issue that BJP leaders have been raising at recent poll campaigns in the state.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday inaugurated the smart-fencing Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) project along the Indo-Bangla border in Assam's Dhubri district.
Termed BOLD-QIT (border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique), the project inspired by Israeli technology entails installing technical systems along the unfenced riverine area in Lower Assam.
"After successfully installing smart fences along 11-km of Indo-Pak border in Jammu last year, we have now launched it in Assam. The system will help control cattle smuggling and cross-border infiltration. It was a long pending demand of Assam to seal Indo-Bangla border. It will take time for complete implementation of the project," said home minister.
Singh termed it the best of systems to guard India’s international border, which will help reduce manpower and address the issue of patrolling-induced fatigue among Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.
"No other system can be better than this, and we want to implement it across the international borders in the country. This will help us do away with physical patrolling and fatigue. BSF personnel would now be deployed in strategic border outposts and the BSF Control Room called the Commandant Control Centre. In few seconds, information would be relayed to the BSF Quick Response Teams,” said Singh.
A BSF official said the 61-km border area in Dhubri district where river Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh consists of vast char lands (sand bars) and a number of river channels that makes border patrolling a difficult task, especially during monsoon.
Thought to be a suitable replacement of barbed wire fencing, the CIBMS system will now cover the riverine border with data network generated by microwave communication, optical fibre cables, DMR communication, day and night surveillance cameras and intrusion detection system.
The home minister stated the NRC (National Register of Citizens) process would be completed well in time by July 31, 2019. Assam chief minister Sarbanada Sonowal and BSF director general, Rajni Kant Mishra accompanied Singh to Dhubri today where he also addressed a public rally.
