Indo-bangla border India mulls high-tech surveillance

Unabated illegal influx from Bangladesh has led the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to look for high-tech surveillance equipment, with the Centre mulling to introduce force multipliers such as Long Range Reconnaissance and Observation System and Battle Field Surveillance Radars (BFSR).

This was disclosed Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Home Affairs (MHA) M Ramachandran. With illegal infiltration from Bangladesh showing no sign of abating, the Centre has cleared proposals for introduction of the high-tech equipment, including BFSR, hand held thermal imager, night vision goggles among other sophisticated equipment. The Border Security Force (BSF) is guarding 4096.70 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border which includes 856 km of the border in Tripura. However, what appears to be a major lapse on the part of the Ministry of Home Affairs is that it has so far not sent any advisories to the Ministry of Railways under which the Railway Protection Force (RPF) operates, to look for illegal migrants. Illegal migrants, who enter through the porous borders of the north-eastern States and West Bengal often, take trains to escape from the police dragnet. Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena wanted to know whether the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has asked the Government Railway Police to keep a close watch on the movement of foreigners, especially Bangladeshi nationals, travelling in trains. Ramachandran confirmed that the IB has not issued any such advisories to the Railways. In a separate reply to a question by Nazneen Farooque, the Minister admitted that there were reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without valid travel documents. Since entry of such Bangladeshi nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such Bangladeshi nationals living in various parts of the country. A number of Bangladeshi nationals, who have entered India on valid travel documents, have been found to be overstaying. According to information available, as on December 31, 2012, 16,530 Bangladeshi nationals who came to India with valid travel documents were found to be overstaying. The Minister said a standard operating procedure exists for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants and for repatriation of rescued victims of trafficking.