Dogs to keep vigil along border with Bangladesh (Calcutta News)

[Swiftwind]

Dogs to keep vigil along border with Bangladesh
Original Article: Calcutta News.Net

Monday 3rd March, 2008 (IANS)

India's Border Security Force (BSF) troopers will soon use trained dogs to check infiltration and smuggling along Tripura's border with Bangladesh.

'We shall engage trained dogs for guarding the international border and check trans-border crimes,' said U.K. Bansal, additional director general (ADG) of BSF.

'The efficiency ratio of dogs, equipment and man is 60:40:20 respectively.'

The BSF dog training centre in Tekenpur in Madhya Pradesh has been providing eight types of training to sniper and tracker dogs.

'Recently, while patrolling the border areas of Assam along with a sniper dog, the jawans recovered a bag containing huge quantities of RDX,' Bansal told IANS.

He said that it was decided to deploy at least four sniper or tracker dogs in each battalion of BSF posted along the international border in Tripura.

Bansal, who is looking after five frontiers along the India-Bangladesh border, said the BSF had also acquired six helicopters to step up vigil along the border in this region.

Pointing out that Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJi) and other fundamentalist elements had spread their net in the bordering states of India, including the northeast and West Bengal, he said the BSF was procuring modern electronic gadgets like thermal and satellite imageries, different types of radars and night vision devices.

'Cross-border crime and the movements of anti-India forces, including separatists, through the India-Bangladesh border have reduced substantially while socio-economic development projects of the bordering communities have been initiated as part of the border management programme,' Bansal added.

According to the BSF official, the entire stretch of the 856-km India-Bangladesh border in Tripura would be fenced. Work in some 641 km had already been completed.

Bansal said 84 companies of border guards were being deployed in Meghalaya and Nagaland to help the Election Commission conduct assembly elections in the two northeastern states.

'I don't agree with some of the experts that the BSF should not be deployed for internal security like in elections as the force is capable of tackling any kind of eventuality and problems,' Bansal said.