SSB should embrace original role of engaging with border population: Home Secretary Govind Mohan

New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan on Tuesday said the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) that guards open Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan should embrace its "original role" of engaging with locals at these frontiers to strengthen security in these areas.

He was speaking during an investiture ceremony of the SSB where 18 force personnel were awarded the medals for gallantry and distinguished service.

The SSB was raised during 1961-62. In its initial days it used to work and engage with the border population to create awareness and generate intelligence, Mohan said.


We saw that this task was somehow lessened after the SSB was tasked to guard open Indian borders with friendly countries of Nepal and Bhutan. In the Ministry of Home Affairs, it is our thinking that the SSB should embrace its original role along while rendering border guarding tasks, he said.

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He lauded the force for securing these two borders with the help of technology like facial recognition tools, radars and drones.

The SSB keeps a "sharp eye" to check human trafficking, drugs and arms smuggling along these borders and they have secured these borders, he said.

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The SSB guards the open and fenceless India-Nepal border (1751 km) and India-Bhutan front of 699 km.