BSF Erecting New Steel Fence Along Pak, B’desh Border

The Border Security Force (BSF) is erecting new uncut steel fence to plug vulnerable and infiltration-prone patches along the frontier with Pakistan and Bangladesh and the Government have expedited the proposed plans to install a smart fence along these borders within the next five years. The smart fence or laser fence entails deployment of surveillance gadgets and anti-infiltration alarms. The uncut single-row fence, with loops of concertina wires on top, is being erected at a 60-km border stretch near Amritsar in Punjab. A ‘pilot project’ of this new fence is also being tested at a 7-km stretch at Silchar in Assam along Indo-Bangladesh border and is being analysed by the BSF for a full rollout. While this fence costs over Rs 2 crore per kilometre, the cost is expected to come down if implemented on a large scale, officials said.

Once the Force receives positive feedback and operational viability of these projects, the new fence will be erected at more places where either the old one has worn out or there was no fence owing to geographical challenges, a senior official said. The BSF is scouring for tech solutions to counter rogue drones which have been sighted in large number along the Western border in Punjab after the nullification of Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.