MHA’s BOLD-QIT project will supplement its CIBMS initiative along the Indo-Bangladesh border to prevent any kind of encroachments
Mihir Paul
With the Pulwama attack being a recent addition to the ever-growing instances of brazen intrusions and terror, effective border security and management have become extremely vital in order to prevent these kinds of attacks in the future.
While the Border Security Force (BSF) operates differently along the western and eastern borders, the push for a modern and technology-driven modus operandi is clearly evident with some of the recent projects the BSF has been involved in. As the government moves forward with its programme to modernise border security and management, the BSF has undertaken an ambitious project to enhance surveillance along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Although the idea of deploying a comprehensive border management system with state-of-the-art technology was decided as early as 2012, it was only after multiple instances of intrusion and the consequent harrowing attacks on bases and convoys that the government decided to deploy technological solutions in the form of the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS). The Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam’s Dhubri area was the first location to receive CIBMS on 11 April 2018.
While CIBMS’ pilot projects have been successfully deployed along India’s eastern borders, the hugely varying terrains and topography along the border compelled the BSF to come up with a more creative tech-based solution to supplement the already deployed CIBMS.
Border guarding along the 61 km border in Assam’s Dhubri district is quite challenging. This is the area where the Brahmaputra river enters into Bangladesh with a multitude of char lands and innumerable river channels. This makes effective border patrolling a very daunting task, even more so during monsoons. To tackle this problem, the ministry of home affairs (MHA), in 2017, decided to come up with a technological solution for enabling effective surveillance in this area. In early 2018, the Information Technology wing of the BSF undertook the BOLD-QIT (Border electronically dominated quick response team interception technique) project. Recently, on March 5, the BOLD-QIT project was officially inaugurated at BOP Barmanpara by Union home minister Rajnath Singh along riverine areas of the Dhubri border.
Addressing a press meet during the inauguration, Singh said, “The BOLD-QIT project will cover the entire span of the Brahmaputra in Dhubri with data network generated by microwave communication, OFC cables, day and night surveillance cameras and intrusion-detection system.”
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