Border Wise

Yunus Dar

G Kishan Reddy, minister of state for home affairs, on December 16, called for integrating new technology and infrastructure to ensure a safe and smart border management system.

Gen. V.K. Singh, minister of state for road transport & highways addressing the seminar

Speaking at ‘Smart Border Management–2019’ organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on the theme ‘Contribution of Smart Border Towards USD5 trillion economy’, Reddy said that the government has, for the first time, initiated a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) to cover areas where physical fencing is not feasible. He said the recorded date and information can be shared with all intelligence and security forces.

“CIBMS includes integration of manpower, sensors, networks, intelligence, and command and control solutions to improve situational awareness at different levels of hierarchy to facilitate prompt and informed decisions and a quick response to emerging situations,” added Reddy. The Phase-1, a pilot project along a 61 km riverine border in Dhubri, Assam along the Indo-Bangladesh border, has been implemented. “After the evaluation of Phase-1, subsequently Phase-2 and Phase-3 of the CIBMS will be rolled out in Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and West Bengal,” said Reddy.

The technology will cover all non-visible gaps and vulnerable structures along the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders. The government, the minister said, was taking “all precautionary measures”.

The president FICCI, Sandip Somany, stressed on the fact that the government needs to make appropriate arrangements regarding the p