India to launch 'smart border' project to curb infiltration, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government will launch a "smart border" project in the next year to make the 6,000 km fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh impenetrable and ensure that the "conspiracy" to change the demography of the areas is defeated.

Delivering the annual Rustamji Memorial lecture hosted by the Border Security Force (BSF) here, the minister also reiterated that the government will find each and every infiltrator from the country and send them outside India.

K F Rustamji was the first director general of the BSF after it was raised in 1965.

"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.

The Modi government, Shah added, has decided to create a "strong security grid" along the Pakistan and Bangladesh fronts in the next one year. The "smart border" will be aided by technology, drones, radars and smart cameras which will help create an impenetrable border, he told the gathering.

The minister also urged BSF troops to ensure that the conspiracy to artificially change the demography of India is defeated. He said current state governments in Tripura, West Bengal and Assam -- all led by the BJP -- believe in the policy that there should no infiltration from across Indian borders. His ministry, Shah added, will soon hold a meeting with the chief ministers of these states on the subject of border security.

The minister added that a high-powered demography mission declared earlier will be announced soon by the Union government.