Guwahati, Mar 4 (IANS): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Tuesday inaugurate the BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) project on the India-Bangladesh border in Assam's Dhubri district to ensure surveillance in areas with adverse terrain.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is responsible for safeguarding the 4,096-km-long border, which has border fencing on most of its length. However, at various places, it is not possible to erect a fence due to the geographical conditions.
According to a Home Ministry statement, the 61 km stretch of the border in Dhubri where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh has "char lands" (riverine sand bars) and innumerable river channels, "thus making border guarding in this area, a daunting task especially during the rainy season".
Hence, the ministry, it said, decided to go for a technological solution besides the physical presence of the BSF. "In January 2018, the Information and Technology Wing of BSF undertook the project BOLD-QIT and completed it in record time with the technical support of various manufacturers and suppliers," it said.
BOLD-QIT, under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), envisages installing different kind of sensors in the unfenced riverine area of Brahmaputra and its tributaries on the India-Bangladesh border to detect any incursion.
"Now, the entire span of River Brahmaputra has been covered with data network generated by microwave communication, OFC cables, DMR communication, day and night surveillance cameras and intrusion detection system. These modern gadgets provide feeds to BSF Control Rooms on the border and enable BSF Quick Reaction Teams to thwart any possibility of illegal cross-border crossing/crimes," it added.
The implementation of this project will not only help the BSF to curb all type of cross-border crimes but also provide respite to the troops from round the clock human surveillance.
Rajnath Singh had inaugurated two smart fencing pilot projects of five km each on the India-Pakistan international border in Jammu in September last year.