BSF fences 70 km of Jammu border

Fencing along the international border in Jammu has been taken up by the Border Security Force (BSF) and more than 70 km has already been co...

Fencing along the international border in Jammu has been taken up by the Border Security Force (BSF) and more than 70 km has already been covered.

BSF Director-General Ajai Raj Sharma today said the BSF personnel had personally undertaken the fencing and flood lighting of the border in Jammu after CPWD men had fled. ‘‘There was continuous firing and shelling from Pakistan side whenever CPWD tried to fence the border. They ran away and now BSF is doing the job,’’ he said at a press conference.

Of the sanctioned 180 km, fencing along 70 km had been completed and work in another 15 km was in progress. Giving details about how BSF was managing to fence the border with continuous firing, he said that they had procured air-conditioned excavator bulldozers in which the driver’s cabin is bullet proof. ‘‘This is not completely safe but six-seven km length could be fenced every month,’’ Sharma added.

Fencing in Gujarat had been very slow with only 16 km of the 310 km covered so far, he said. But now it was proceeding faster with work in 40 km in progress, he said. Hovercraft were also being bought for marshy border areas of Sir Creek in Gujarat, he added.

However, it was the border with Bangladesh which is cause for concern. ‘‘Fencing is the crucial aspect of border management along with deployment of sufficient manpower,’’ he said. The best way to protect the Indo-Bangladesh border is double fencing with concertina wire between the two layers and forces behind. ‘‘This would make crossing difficult,’’ he said, disclosing that this was the method of fencing already in progress. Of the total 4,900 km, around 1,100 km of the frontier had been fenced.