The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has prolonged the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) to 50 km from the International Border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. Earlier, the powers of the Border Security Force – which incorporates arrest and seizure – have been restricted to fifteen km in these states.
Interestingly, the ministry has decreased the BSF’s space of operations in Gujarat, the place it had earlier exercised its powers to 80 km from the border, however will now cowl solely 50 km.
While Assam and Gujarat are dominated by the BJP, Punjab and West Bengal are dominated by the opposition.
In a gazette notification issued on Monday, the federal government mentioned it’s amending the schedule of its earlier notification dated July 2014 just about the jurisdiction of the BSF to train its powers in states guarding worldwide borders.
Outlining the jurisdiction of the BSF via the brand new programme, it mentioned, “The entire area comprising the States of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and of the area included within a belt.” Rather a lot is concerned. Running alongside the borders of India, protecting a distance of fifty kilometers within the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. “
It mentioned that he had exercised powers below the Border Security Force Act, 1968.
In an earlier notification issued on July 3, 2014, the MHA had mentioned that the jurisdiction of the BSF “extends to the entire area comprising the States of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya and so much area is included within a belt” of the State of Gujarat. Eighty kilometers in, fifty kilometers within the state of Rajasthan and fifteen kilometers within the states of Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, operating alongside India’s borders.
Sources mentioned the modifications have been made on the solutions of the BSF. “Assam, Punjab and West Bengal are troubled borders resulting from large-scale smuggling of medicine, cattle and arms and ammunition. If Punjab has a drug and arms drawback, Assam and West Bengal current new challenges within the type of cattle and counterfeit foreign money smuggling. These borders are additionally susceptible to unlawful migration. We are getting details about unlawful actions within the hinterland however our arms have been tied for greater than 15 km in these states. Hence, a suggestion was made to the MHA which it has agreed to. This will go a good distance in our marketing campaign towards smuggling rackets.
A house ministry official mentioned the purpose can be to uniformize the operational jurisdiction of the BSF in these states. “They had a jurisdiction of 15 km in some states and then 80 km in Gujarat. So the idea was to make it uniform. In Gujarat, there is really no need for such a large operational area as the BSF-protected border area is largely uninhabited along the miles of the Rann of Kutch,” the official mentioned.
When identified that opposition-ruled states might have issues with this components, the official mentioned, “It has been executed in Assam as properly. This is a BJP dominated state. The sole function of the notification is to enhance operational effectivity of BSF and assist in cracking down on smuggling rackets,” the official mentioned.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
