Union Home Minister Amit Shah said today the government is deploying an electronic surveillance system to safeguard the country’s borders and that technology will be used to detect and dismantle underground cross-border tunnels to thwart infiltration by terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.
Our correspondent reports that addressing BSF personnel during a visit to Border Outpost ‘Vinay’ near the International Border in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district, Shah lauded the contribution of the force and praised the troops for performing their duties in challenging circumstances. He said we are deploying an electronic surveillance system on the borders, having two models, and if anything happens from the enemy side, BSF will be able to respond immediately. Shah further said technology will also help to increase accessibility and, at the same time, to identify and dismantle underground tunnels; technical means would be put in place.
The home minister commended the dedication and devotion of the BSF in safeguarding the borders throughout the year and said, “The real challenge is understood only when one visits the place.” “In cold, rain or extreme heat, when temperatures cross 45 degrees Celsius, you remain on guard 365 days and 24 hours on the forward posts, keeping an eye on enemy activities.
Shah also said that the BSF has a glowing history and the entire nation knows their role in safeguarding the nation. Shah, currently on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today visited a forward post of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the India-Pakistan border in the Kathua district, where a massive operation against Pakistani terrorists has been underway for the past fortnight. Shah flew in a helicopter to the Hiranagar sector of the Kathua district from Jammu around noon and was later escorted to BSF Outpost ‘Vinay’ to assess the ground situation.
Director General of BSF Daljit Singh Chaudhary, Director General of J&K Police Nalin Prabhat and other senior officers, including Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Shashank Anand, and Inspector General of Police, Jammu zone, Bhim Sen Tuti, received the home minister. Shah reached Jammu Sunday evening on a three-day visit to the UT to review the security situation, lay foundation stones, inaugurate multi-crore development projects and take stock of various development programmes in the UT.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah today met the families of 10 police personnel and an engineer who lost their lives in various terror attacks in the Union Territory over the past year and handed over job appointment letters to the next of kin. Our correspondent reports that the home minister, who is on a three-day visit to J&K, met the families at Raj Bhavan Jammu.
Among the families who met Amit Shah were the next of kin of four policemen who recently sacrificed their lives in a fierce gunfight with Pakistani terrorists in the Kathua district. Four policemen, head constable Jagbir Singh and selection grade constables Jaswant Singh, Balvinder Singh and Tariq Hussain, and two terrorists were killed in a fierce gunfight in the district on March 27. The wives of the slain policemen hailing from Kathua, Jammu and Reasi districts, along with relatives of six other police martyrs, were present at the event. Ruchi Abrol, wife of engineer Shashi Bushan Abrol of the Talab Tillo area of Jammu, also met Shah. Abrol was among seven workers of a construction company killed in a terror attack at Gagangir in the Ganderbal district in October last year.
