Human detection radars, seismic sensors to track tunnels: MHA’s hi-tech security at Pakistan border

Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said some of these systems have already been installed in certain stretches while some new high-tech equipment and security systems are being experimented with to deal with some of the vulnerabilities on the border with Pakistan.

According to officials engaged in the project, human-detection radars integrated with cameras and a command and control system are proving to be effective.

Sources said that for border surveillance, micro-doppler radars are being used because of their advantages over cameras and other types of sensors, including their penetration capabilities which help in obscured environments like walls, smoke, fog, and so on.

“Radars can be used in all weather conditions. Cameras fail in foggy environments and in the rain, but radars give perfect signals that can be interpreted by backend software in the control room to get the exact nature and location of the moving object,” an official said.

Apart from this, basic border security infrastructure is also being bolstered.

“The fencing has been strengthened. There are floodlights and watch-towers every 270 metres. The riverine stretches have been fenced to the extent possible and watch-towers have been set up on either side. A system has been created to patrol the stretch,” the official said.

To detect tunnels, which terrorists often use to cross over from Pakistan to India, seismic sensors are being experimented with, sources said.

“These are equipment which send seismic waves underground to detect if there are gaps or holes inside the earth. A software interprets the signals. Then security forces dig the place to see if there are any tunnels. Intensive physical verification of the vulnerable areas, particularly in Samba and Kathua regions, is being done,” another official said.

Sources said recent discoveries of tunnels revealed that these were being dug as deep as 20 feet underground to escape the tunnel detection technology. So security forces have begun digging trenches up to 20 feet deep in vulnerable areas.

All of this is supplemented by the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), which the government fast-tracked after the 2016 Pathankot Air Base attack. According to the MHA, two pilot projects covering about 71 kms on India-Pakistan border (10 kms) and India-Bangladesh border (61 kms) of the CIBMS have already been completed.

According to the MHA, CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that can receive data from all surveillance devices in real time.

The government also launched BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) under CIBMS on India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri district of Assam, along the riverine border as it was not feasible to construct border fencing. This, sources said, has been operationalised.

The 61 kms of border area in Dhubri, where the Brahmaputra river enters Bangladesh, consists of vast char lands and innumerable river channels, making guarding the border a challenging task, especially during the rainy season.

“The implementation of these projects will help in integration of manpower, sensors, networks, intelligence and command and control solutions to improve situational awareness at different levels of hierarchy to facilitate prompt and informed decision-making and quick reaction to emerging situations,” an MHA official said.