A 61 km long stretch of the Indo-Bangladeh border is fenced through a smart fencing using an Israel and US technology.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said this and added that he had seen use of the BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) during his visit to Israel and US sometimes back.

“On my return, I called a meeting of the officers of MHA and told them that we should be using this technology to seal the borders,” said the Home Minister while addressing a rally in Assam’s Dhubri district on Tuesday.

The technology used in the project involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance devices in real time.

Implementation of CIBMS project on Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh border will enhance the capabilities of Border security Force (BSF).

He said that a stretch of 10 km along the Indo-Pakistan border was sealed using the same technology last year.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km-long border, of which 262 km falls in Assam.

Apart from infiltration, smuggling of different items including cattle keeps the BSF jawans always on their toes all along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Cross-border trade of cattle is estimated to be worth Rs 5,000 crore a year.

In neighbouring Bangladesh it is used for consumption and tannery industry.

Cattle seizure in Dhubri sector in Assam:

2015 – 24560

2016 – 36200

2017 – 8900

Smugglers apprehended

2015 – 49

2016 – 89

2017 – 39

Cattle seizure in Coochbehar

2015 – 9889

2016 – 17378

2017 – 10541

Smugglers apprehended in Coochbehar

2015 – 128

2016 – 68

2017 – 45