India’s two major borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh will be completely secured in the next two years, according to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Shah made the announcement on Friday while speaking at a ceremonial parade of the Border Security Force (BSF) on the occasion of its 59th Raising Day celebrations.
The minister said that the government has already fenced and plugged gaps in about 560 km of the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders in the last nine years since it came to power.
He said that work is continuing to plug gaps in the remaining 60 km of the borders, and that this work will be completed in the next two years.
The two borders– 2,290 km of India-Pakistan International Border and 4,096 km of India-Bangladesh border– are marked by long riverine, mountainous and marshy areas where it is very difficult to erect fences.
However, the BSF and other agencies are using technical gadgets to check infiltration in these areas.
Shah said that border security is a top priority for the government, and that the Modi government has taken a number of steps to strengthen border security, including creating new border posts, observation towers, and piped water facilities.
He also said that the government is close to eliminating Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country.
In the last ten years, he said, the incidents of Naxal violence have gone down by 52 per cent, deaths in these incidents declined by 70 per cent and the number of affected police stations have come down from 495 to 176.
Shah said that the government is determined to end Naxalism in the country, and that as many as 199 new security forces camps have been established in the LWE affected areas over the last ten years.
He said that he is sure that the government will win the battle against LWE.
