Use tech, up vigil along rivers, says post-Pathankot review

NEW DELHI: A committee led by former home secretary Madhukar Gupta, which was set up following the Pathankot terror attack to look into security gaps on the India-Pakistan border, has submitted its report to the government and is learnt to have suggested use of technology and heightened vigil on riverine frontiers.

The committee is also learnt to have flagged gaps and vulnerability in border fencing. Home ministry sources said the committee, while suggesting use of scientific methods, also expressed displeasure over not installing laser walls in many infiltration-prone areas due to treacherous and marshy terrain.

The panel gave separate recommendations for four states which touch the international border with Pakistan as each state has different topography and problems.

Of the 3,323-km-long India-Pakistan border, 1,225 km falls in Jammu and Kashmir (including Line of Control), 553 km in Punjab, 1,037 km in Rajasthan and 508 km in Gujarat.

The committee was set up three months after the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base in January to suggest ways to address the issue of gaps and vulnerability in border fencing.

It was mandated to study all types of gaps in fencing and other vulnerabilities along the border and suggest a comprehensive approach to fix them. As first reported by TOI, the government has okayed a five-layer plan to stop infiltration on the western border, which includes CCTV cameras, thermal imaging and night-vision devices, battlefield surveillance radar, underground monitoring sensors and laser barriers.

The integrated set-up will ensure that if one device does not work, another will alert the control room in case of a transgression.