India is almost done fencing its borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar to curb infiltration and smuggling

India has almost finished the work of sealing its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, and also putting up some fences along its borders with Myanmar, in order to stem the flow of infiltrators and smuggled goods into the country. It may be recalled here that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said last year that India would seal its border with Pakistan by December 2018.

Also read: This is how India plans to seal its border with Pakistan by December 2018

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply to a question by Jyotiraditya M Scindia and Professor Saugata Roy in the Lok Sabha, said on Tuesday, March 14, that most of the fencing work along India's borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been completed.

Fences and other arrangements

He said: "The total sanctioned length of fence along the Indo-Bangladesh border is 3,326 km, out of which 2,731 km has been completed. The total sanctioned length of fence along the Indo-Pakistan border (IPB) is 2,063.06 km, out of which 2,003.06 km has been completed. Along the Indo-Myanmar border, a 10-km fencing has been sanctioned out of which fence work in approximately 4 km has been completed."

He added: "The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach for security arrangements at the IPB. The arrangements include deployment of Border Security Force (BSF), construction of border fence, construction of border roads, installation of floodlights, construction of Border Out Posts (BOPs), introduction of Hi-Tech surveillance equipment, providing weapons and specialised vehicles to Security Forces, etc."

'Plugging gaps'

He also said: "Vulnerability-mapping of the BOPs which are sensitive with regard to infiltration and smuggling along the borders has been carried out. These identified BOPs have been strengthened by deploying additional manpower, special surveillance equipment, vehicles and other infrastructure support. The government has decided to plug the gaps along the IPB by means of physical and non-physical barriers."

This is all part of a plan Rajnath Singh had laid out in October last year, saying about the IPB: "We will start a new concept called the Border Security Grid, for which inputs from all the border states will be taken." The grid would act as a stricter monitoring mechanism along the border, deterring terrorist infiltration from Pakistan.