Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Tuesday inauguratethe BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique)project on the India-Bangladesh border in Assam’s Dhubri district to ensuresurveillance in areas with adverse terrain.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is responsible forsafeguarding the 4,096-km-long border, which has border fencing on most of itslength. However, at various places, it is not possible to erect a fence due tothe geographical conditions.
According to a Home Ministry statement, the 61 km stretch ofthe 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 especiallyduring the rainy season”.
Hence, the ministry, it said, decided to go for atechnological solution besides the physical presence of the BSF. “InJanuary 2018, the Information and Technology Wing of BSF undertook the projectBOLD-QIT and completed it in record time with the technical support of variousmanufacturers and suppliers,” it said.
BOLD-QIT, under the Comprehensive Integrated BorderManagement System (CIBMS), envisages installing different kind of sensors inthe unfenced riverine area of Brahmaputra and its tributaries on theIndia-Bangladesh border to detect any incursion.
“Now, the entire span of River Brahmaputra has beencovered with data network generated by microwave communication, OFC cables, DMRcommunication, day and night surveillance cameras and intrusion detectionsystem. These modern gadgets provide feeds to BSF Control Rooms on the borderand enable BSF Quick Reaction Teams to thwart any possibility of illegalcross-border crossing/crimes,” it added.
The implementation of this project will not only help theBSF to curb all type of cross-border crimes but also provide respite to thetroops from round the clock human surveillance.
Rajnath Singh had inaugurated two smart fencing pilotprojects of five km each on the India-Pakistan international border in Jammu inSeptember last year.