E-Paper
Women to guard our borders
Women will soon guard the country’s border with Pakistan in Punjab, with the Border Security Force (BSF) having begun the process of recruiting 685 women constables for the task, reports Jasdeep Singh Malhotra.
Women will soon guard the country’s border with Pakistan in Punjab, with the Border Security Force (BSF) having begun the process of recruiting 685 women constables for the task.
This is the first time that the BSF will have women constables in its ranks. The constables would be deployed along the 553 km long Indo-Pak border in Punjab to check drug smuggling, infiltration of women and monitoring of women farmers across the fence.
BSF Punjab Frontiers Inspector General Himmat Singh said that 650 women constables would be deployed in the first phase. “The constables will neither be deputed for routine patrolling along the borders nor deployed on night vigil. They will carry out an eight-hour job in daylight at different gates and posts,” he said.
BSF authorities have reported seven instances of women being caught trying to cross over to Indian or Pakistani territories from February 2006 to October 2007. In one case, two women were arrested for smuggling 3 kg of heroin worth Rs 3 crore.
“We have been facing difficulties in frisking women farmers and labourers. These constables will frisk womenfolk at the time of opening of gates, keep tabs on their activities across the fence and ensure their security in Indian territory,” the IG said.
Singh said the women constables would be deployed within 14 existing battalions in Punjab. “We are in the process of setting up special barracks for them at company as well as battalion headquarters. Some of them will also be put on administrative jobs,” the IG said.
