Government sanctions 59 new border posts, more troops along Nepal

NEW DELHI: India will bolster the strength of its security personnel and build 59 new Border out Posts (BoPs) along the porous border with Nepal to check the movement of terrorists and smuggling of fake currency.

Also, the government will soon empower the Sashastra Seema Bal ( SSB), which guards the 1,751-kilometre border with Nepal, under the provisions of the Passport and Customs Act to enable the paramilitary troops apprehend illegal movement and seize contraband goods and counterfeit Indian currency.

"At present, on Indo-Nepal border, we have 450 Border Outposts (BoPs) and the distance between two BoPs is 4.5 km. In the next five years, 59 BoPs will be created and the inter-BoP distance would be 3.47-km then. This is a measure to increase the density of force and BoPs in the next five years," SSB chief Pranay Sahay told reporters during an interaction here.

Once the new BoPs become operational, the troop strength on the border will increase.

Sahay said similar measures will also be undertaken along the Indo-Bhutan border with the creation of 50 new BoPs. SSB also guards the 669-km frontier with Bhutan.

"We have asked for certain additional powers under the Passport Act and Customs Act for the functional requirement of SSB. These powers are already vested with border guarding agencies...in terms of making their functioning easier, in terms of making seizures, in terms of other procedural matters.

"We have sought these powers and we have been assured we will get these powers soon...the (process is in) final stages, they (powers under new Act) should come any day," the SSB Director General said.