BSF Celebrates Raising Day With Grand Show, Displayed Best Guns
| Virendra Kumar Gaur, Former IG, BSF - 02 Dec 2018

BSF Celebrates Raising Day With Grand Show, Displayed Best Guns
 

By V K Gaur
New Delhi, Dec 02, 2018: The Border Security Force (BSF) on December 1, celebrated 54th raising day. The Force organised a grand show at its Chhawla Camp where Mr. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs was the chief guest. On this occasion, best Guns of BSF were also displayed. 


    BSF was raised in the wake of Pak armed invasion of the Rann of Kutch early in 1965. India’s international borders were then guarded by the respective border state Police forces who were neither adequately armed nor equipped nor trained to protect our borders against invasion.


    The BSF was created with 25 battalions of state police forces from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, J&K, West Bengal, Assamand Tripura to guard Indo-Pakistan (east - now Bangladesh and west wings) international border. The border length is 6386 km. 


The police and military leadership organised force expansion, rigorous training, operational planning and effective border guarding. The Force today has 192 battlions, 2.6 lakh personnel and over 1900 border outposts. The Force is called the “first wall of defence” by Shri Rajnath Singh Union Home Minister.


The BSF in 1971 had proved its mettle guarding the frontiers against Pakistan’s offensives for nine long months and formed part of the advancing columns of joint command forces that compelled Pakistan to surrender on 16 December 71.


    The BSF executed numerous operational tasks besides border guarding. It proved to be impartial and effective force during law and order deployment, internal security duties and while dealing with natural calamities. For years it has been on Line of Actual Control in J&K, on IS duties in Manipur, Left Wing Extremism infested areas of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The force also performed IS duty and peace-keeping role with United Nations in several sensitive foreign lands in Europe, Africa, and other places.


The BSF is deployed on IB and LOC in J&K. The Pak Rangers intermittently try to infiltrate terrorists into India from IB. They open intense fire to divertattention of the Force, prevent movement of patrols and observation parties so that terrorist does not enter India. 


Many times they bring in Pak army elements to bring down heavy fire from mortars and artillery on BSF posts and snipe at men on duty. When Flag meetings and protests failed to restore normalcy the BSF launched operations BHIM-I and BHIM-II in 2018  and played hell with devastating fire on their posts. Rangers learnt lesson and stopped their ulterior activities for the time being.


It is a secular force in real sense. All ranks recruited from all walks and from every nook and corner of India are trained, organised and deployed as a team while living and working together. During War they displayed exemplary couragevalor, and sense of sacrifice. 


The Force won one Mahavir Chakra, 13 Vir Chakra, 4 Kirti Chakra, 13 Shaurya Chakra, several hundred President’s Police and Fire Service Medal for Gallantry, Presidents Police Medal for Gallantry and Police Medal for Gallantry during war,counter-insurgency, anti-terrorist and LWE operations. Many awards were given posthumously.” Duty unto Death” is their motto.

The border guarding force defies countless challenges in the Rann area, the Thar desert, snow-capped mountains of Kashmir, tidal river area of West Bengal, dense forests of Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The Force has lost a significant number of its men deployed in cerebral malaria infested border belts of North East.


The real challenge comes to the Force in the water-logged borders in WB, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. During hours of darkness when visibility is reduced to a few yards and while the mighty Brahmaputra River assume enormous expanse it is in surmountable challenge to detect and apprehend infiltrators,

terrorist, insurgents, and smugglers. In Punjab, parts of Jammu and Rajasthan, Assam and Meghalaya and Tripura the force is faced with farmers who cultivate their land in the 150 meter broad extreme border belt. Some of them either indulge in smuggling or help criminals and anti-national elements cross the border. There are many dwellings on zero line.


The BSF relentlessly work to improve its border management tools.


    Border Security Force has taken over the task of eecting physical barrier on entire international Border to make it impregnable for any kind of illegal infiltration.  However, there are stretches which are difficult to be covered by physical fencing and hence, decision was taken to install Technological Solution on these gaps covering an area of about 2026 KMs in various places. 


The Technological Solution is called Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) which is a combination of surveillance devices, Data Backbone, Communication Network and Command Control Centre.


    The CIBMS multiplies human surveillance by sensors surveillance and ensures that any attempt of infiltration does not go without detection.
Two such Pilot Projects have been completed in the J&K in Sep 2018. The projects are under critical analysis. Meanwhile, another project covering a distance of 60 Km over mighty river Brahmaputra in Dhubri District of Assam is also being executed by BSF and is expected to complete by December 2018. 

Photo – Courtesy India News / DD News  


(The writer Mr. VK Gaur is former IG, BSF and has written more than 50 Books on the issues related to Defence, Strategy and Internal security. )


Browse By Tags



Latest News