R Dutta Choudhury
GUWAHATI, Feb 16 – Ten years have passed since a decision was taken to create a second line of defence of Assam Police personnel to prevent infiltration of foreign nationals into Assam, but till date, the force has not become fully operational because of the failure of the Government to appoint the requisite number of personnel and to provide the basic facilities.
The decision to create the force was taken way back in 1999 in a tripartite meeting involving the State and Central governments and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) to review the progress of implementation of the Assam Accord. Though it is the responsibility of the Border Security Force (BSF) to guard the international border with Bangladesh, the basic idea of taking the decision to create a second line of defence was to nab the infiltrators who might sneak past the first line of defence, which is the BSF.
Official sources told The Assam Tribune that as per the proposal of creation of the second line of defence, as many as 28 border outposts (BOPs) and three tactical headquarters of the force should have been created. But till date, only 12 BOPs and two tactical headquarters have been created. Sources admitted that the infrastructure available to the personnel posted in the 12 BOPs are far from adequate. Sources also admitted that the second line of defence would become adequately functional only when the Government provides the basic facilities and appoint additional one thousand personnel. Under the present circumstances, it will take some time before the new force becomes fully operational as even if the Government takes a decision to make the appointments, training of the personnel will take almost a year, while, construction of houses for the force will also take some time.
Sources said that the Government has not even filled up the vacancies under the Prevention of Infiltration of Foreigners (PIF) scheme and at present, more than 400 posts under the scheme are lying vacant.
Meanwhile, commenting on the issue, AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya alleged that the failure of the Government to fulfil its promise for 10 years is an “inexcusable crime”. He said that not to speak of detection and deportation of foreigners living in Assam, the Government has not even taken adequate steps to check fresh infiltration.
Bhattacharya said that the decision to create a second line of defence was taken because there have been instances when illegal migrants managed to sneak past the BSF personnel deployed along the international border. He said that as per the decision taken in the tripartite meeting, the Government should have created a new battalion of police personnel with adequate infrastructure and the representatives of the Government of India, who attended the meeting, also assured to reimburse the expenses incurred by the State in this regard. But unfortunately, till date, the new force has not become fully functional which proves that the Government is not sincere in this regard.
The AASU adviser said that the Central and State governments also assured the AASU that joint patrolling by the BSF and second line of defence personnel would be carried out along the international border, particularly in the vulnerable areas, but that assurance also remained on paper only.
Bhattacharya pointed out that the new Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has started taking interest in dealing with the problem of infiltration and he should also put pressure on the State Government to raise the second line of defence as soon as possible.
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