Sashastra Seema Bal seeks arrest powers under Passport Act

The SSB had in January last asked the Union Home Ministry to delegate it the authority for enforcing the provisions of the Passport and Customs Act in order to ensure better security at the Indo-Nepal border.

"Once the SSB is listed as a designated agency under the Passport and Customs Act, the force will be able to intercept, arrest, search and seize any illegal person/activity along the Nepal border," a senior official said.

Other border guarding forces like the BSF have such powers in their area of deployment, the official added.

The paramilitary force, which guards 1,751-km long Indo-Nepal border, has made the proposal in order to enable its troops to apprehend those involved in illegal movement and seize contraband goods and fake Indian currency.

At present, the force does this job in coordination with other agencies on the border like Customs, Immigrations and local police.

Top brass of the SSB recently made a fresh request during a presentation on April 25 to Union Home Secretary R K Singh, when he visited the force headquarters here.

The force had first sought for these powers in July, 2009.

The SSB is also creating additional posts at the Nepal border, notorious for illegal crossings, in a phased manner. At present there are 450 Border Outposts (BoPs) along the Indo-Nepal border. The distance between two BoPs is 4.5 km.

In the next five years, 59 BoPs will be created over a period of next five years and the inter-BoP distance would be reduced to 3.47 km then.

SSB jawans also guards the 669 km-long frontier which the country shares with Bhutan.