SSB to strengthen presence near Doklam plateau

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will be strengthening its presence and establishing new border posts in Sikkim along the Bhutan frontier, near Doklam region that recently saw a standoff between Indian and Chinese troops.

"Doklam is on India-China border, which is not our mandate but we are more alert in the area next to it and there is going to be slightly increased strength on the border just below the tri-junction (India-Bhutan-Tibet), which is on the southern side," said SSB Director General Rajni Kant Mishra after attending 54th raising day of the force here.

"The battalion headquarters is coming up in Yuksom in Sikkim while more sanctioned border out posts (BoPs) will be established in the area," Mishra said.

The Indian and Chinese troops had engaged in a standoff on the plateau for over two months earlier this year after the latter began constructing a road on the disputed territory.

The standoff ended on August 28 after the two sides decided to disengage their troops.

The SSB is also planning to put a laser fencing system at certain points along India's border with Nepal and Bhutan to keep a watch and prevent infiltration and smuggling in the region.

"The areas where keeping a watch physically and doing surveillance is difficult, we take help of technologies; laser is one of the technologies. There are two pilot projects that are going to run," Mishra told ANI.

The laser fence will reportedly be installed at one location each along Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan boundaries.

However, this project is in initial phase and authorities are testing if such places can be fenced by using such a technology.

"We are in contact with the DRDO, they had shown a demo in their location but it is not installed yet," he added.

The SSB is also planning to raise fencing on a patch of India-Bhutan border to stop human trafficking.