Union home minister Amit Shah has asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to intensify its patrolling along the India-Bangladesh and India-Pakistan border areas while taking a strong note of the porus border.
Shah reviewed border guarding arrangements, along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, with BSF Command and Sector Headquarters through video-conferencing on Thursday evening.
The development assumes significance following intelligence reports that Islamic terror outfits might try to sneak into the Indian side to create terror at a time when India has been fighting against COVID-19.
“The home minister directed that vigil on border should be intensified, especially along the unfenced area, to ensure that no cross border movement is allowed,” said Puniya Salila Srivastava, joint secretary in the Home Ministry.
“All the central intelligence agencies have also been asked to keep a close eye on all such activities so that any possibility of creating terror could be foiled especially at a time when India is fighting against Covid19,” said another Home Ministry official.
The home minister further directed that farmers in the border areas must be educated about COVID-19 and the preventive measures to be taken to prevent its spread in these areas.
“In coordination with District administration, BSF must ensure that the people do not venture across the border fence inadvertently,” said Srivastava quoting the home minister.
Significantly, the home minister praised the good work done by BSF formations amidst COVID-19 outbreak.
During the lockdown, BSF formations have focused their energy towards awareness campaigns, as per the guidelines of Ministry of Health, sanitization efforts, wherever possible in the villages providing face masks and soaps for hand wash, providing ration, potable water and medical facilities to the needy, including remote villages, migratory laborers, daily wage earners and stranded truck drivers in border areas.
Ministers of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai, along with Union Home Secretary, Secretary (Border Management) and DG, BSF were also present in the review meeting.