BSF using both ultra-modern, conventional methods to guard border with Bangladesh: Official

Border Security Force (BSF) uses a blend of traditional methods and modern technology to safeguard India-Bangladesh borders effectively.

Guarding the challenging international borders between India and Bangladesh, the Border Security Force (BSF) has adopted mechanisms that converge conventional methods and ultra-modern technologies to prevent smuggling and human trafficking.

A senior official said that the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier, which guards 913 km length of the international border between the two neighbours, extensively uses electronic surveillance in cohesion with conventional methods like sentry posts and foot patrolling.

Noting that nearly half the 913 km long border guarded by the South Bengal Frontier is yet to be fenced, he said that several methods have been adopted by the force to stop smuggling and human trafficking along the difficult terrain and riverine sections.

“Pan, Tilt, and Zoom (PTZ) cameras apart from fixed ones are in place in extensive numbers to keep an eye on every movement where fencing is yet to be completed,” the senior BSF official said.

The cameras, equipped with night vision facilities, have sensors to detect and pinpoint any human movement along the borders. The information is passed on to the sentries from the control rooms, he told visiting reporters at Petrapole in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, around 110 from Kolkata.

“Out of the 32 km-long border in one battalion command area of the BSF near the Petrapole land customs station, only 11 km are fenced while the rest area is guarded in a seamless convergence of conventional and ultra-modern technologies,” he said.

“Manpower, technology and resources are used in a proper manner to prevent smuggling and human trafficking,” he said.