April 8, 2025
JAMMU – Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that the government is installing an electronic surveillance system to further strengthen border security and the work will be completed on the entire India-Pakistan border within the next three to four years.
Shah, who was speaking to BSF troops at the Vinay forward post in Kathua, lauded the BSF for safeguarding the country’s borders in challenging circumstances.
Before flying to Srinagar in the afternoon, he also met families of 11 martyrs who lost their lives in terrorist attacks. He handed over government job appointment letters to them in the Raj Bhavan.
Shah told the BSF troops that technology will be used to detect underground cross-border tunnels and also destroy them.
“You serve the nation in adverse weather and challenging conditions. The two models of electronic surveillance system we want to establish will help you receive information about infiltration and cross-border tunneling and assist you in responding in case of any incident. The system will detect the cross-border tunnels,” he said.
The Home Minister said that the electronic surveillance system would be first installed along the India-Pakistan border and then on the India-Bangladesh border.
He said that the BSF was the first line of defence and has played a crucial role in defending the borders like the Army during the wars with Pakistan.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, Home Secretary Govind Mohan, DG BSF Daljit Singh Chaudhary and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
Shah, currently on a three-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir, visited Kathua where a massive operation against Pakistani terrorists is underway for the past fortnight.
He assessed the ground situation at the BSF Outpost ‘Vinay’ to assess the ground situation.
Later, he left for Srinagar where he will on Tuesday review the security situation in J&K, particularly in the Jammu-Samba-Kathua areas that have witnessed heightened terror activities in the past few months. Four policemen and two terrorists were killed in a fierce gunfight in the Kathua district on 27 March.
Shah reached here on Sunday evening and held a closed-door meeting with BJP MLAs and office-bearers. This is Shah’s first visit to the Union Territory after the formation of the National Conference government in October last year
After a nearly two-hour meeting at BJP headquarters here, Shah took to X and shared that he held a meeting with BJP MLAs and senior members of the party. “Under the leadership of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji, BJP will continue to work for the prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir,” he wrote on X late Sunday night.