News Desk

Indian media reports say the government is preparing to launch a sweeping “smart border” initiative aimed at tightening security along the country’s frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In parallel, fencing work has begun in parts of West Bengal following fresh land transfers to the Border Security Force (BSF), The Times of India reported on Friday.

Addressing the BSF’s annual Rustamji Memorial lecture in New Delhi on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the proposed “smart border” project would, within the next year, transform the nearly 6,000km border into a “strong security grid” supported by advanced surveillance systems, according to The Hindu Business Line.

“I want to assure BSF troops that we will launch this smart border project in the 60th year of its raising and we will make the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders impenetrable,” Shah said.

According to Shah, the plan will integrate drones, radars, and smart cameras into a unified security architecture designed to detect and deter infiltration attempts.

He said the initiative was part of a broader effort to prevent what he described as “conspiracies” to alter the demographic balance in border regions.

The home minister also reiterated a commitment to identify and remove what he termed illegal infiltrators.

“We will find each and every infiltrator from the country and send them outside India,” he was quoted as saying, adding that consultations would be held with the chief ministers of border states, including Tripura, West Bengal and Assam, all governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to strengthen coordination on border security.

Shah also indicated that a previously announced “high-powered demography mission” would soon be formally rolled out by the Union government.

In a parallel development, fencing work has commenced along the India-Bangladesh border at Phansidewa in the Siliguri subdivision in West Bengal, following the state government’s transfer of 27km of land to the BSF, The Times of India reported.

Additional parcels have also been handed over for the construction of border outposts and other security infrastructure, it added.

Officials said the move is intended to significantly strengthen surveillance and close existing gaps in one of the country’s most sensitive border stretches.

The development has reportedly been welcomed by several locals, who described it as a long-awaited step towards improved security.

“This is a border area where there was no security before… We can sleep peacefully,” resident Narayan Saha was quoted as saying, while others echoed similar sentiments.