Will never act as parallel police in States with extended jurisdiction, says BSF DG

New Delhi [India], November 30 (ANI): The Border Security Force (BSF) will not act as parallel police in the states where its jurisdiction has been extended from 15 to 50 Km by the Centre, said Pankaj Kumar Singh, DG BSF on Tuesday.
Singh said that he would like to clarify that recently, the Centre has extended jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km and added new responsibilities to BSF.
"Its jurisdiction has been extended only in respect of the powers it enjoys under Passport (Entry into India) Act and the Passport Act. It is for those who are violating border entry rules," he said.
He added that Infiltration is a big issue, due to which Tripura and Assam witnessed agitation and in Bengal demographic imbalance has happened in several districts.
"To keep a check on infiltration, the powers of BSF under two Acts (Passport act and Passport (entry into India) act) have been extended from 15 km to 50 km," Singh said.
"I would like to make clear that in case of any operations conducted by BSF in extended jurisdiction area, the FIR will be registered in a local police station and it will be investigated by the local police station. We are not going to act as parallel police or doing an investigation, it is a misleading fact spread," he said.
The jurisdiction in case of NDPS Act, Arms Act and Customs Act has not been changed, he added.
Speaking on border security, he said that BSF has installed radars and drones for surveillance at borders.
"In around 80 per cent area of Pakistan and Bangladesh borders, floodlights have been installed to keep a check on infiltration during the night. The Government of India is spending a lot on border security. Now we are replacing regular lights with LED lights that will further increase luminosity. We have other night vision devices to keep a check on infiltration. We have night vision enabled drones also," he added.
Drugs and ammunition were dropped using drones at borders, it is tough to keep watch on such activities but they are using Anti-drone technology to keep watch on such activities, he said.
In 2020, BSF held around 3200 people for illegally crossing Bangladesh borders.
"We have 7500 women personnel in BSF that include 139 officers. They are deployed at all entry points in borders for security and frisking duties. Apart from security duties, they sometimes counsel women in distress at borders," said Singh. (ANI)