Parliament’s Standing Committee ‘anguished’ at neglect of personnel securing frontiers

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 15

While the sanctity of the international borders continues to be a cause for concern with increasing number of ceasefire violations, infiltration attempts and smuggling, the service condition of the men tasked with guarding the border leave a lot to be desired.Expressing “deep anguish” over the neglect of basic necessities to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel deployed on border guarding duties, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs has, in its report tabled on April 11, pointed out that inadequate rest, lack of basic amenities in border outposts (BOPs), poor infrastructure and deficient equipment are among issues that need to be addressed urgently.The Home Ministry’s submission that a jawan gets minimum of six hours of uninterrupted sleep in every cycle of 24 hours is at variance with the facts observed and learnt by the committee during its visit to border areas, the report said.“The committee is anguished to observe that the flawed system leaves grossly insufficient time for jawans to get decent rest and sleep. The committee is concerned to note that due to shortage of manpower, jawans are forced to perform 16-18 hours of duty in a day,” the report added.In some areas such as Rajasthan, jawans have to travel for more two hours to and from their patrolling location, leaving them with no more than two to three hours for rest before their second shift.This was taking a toll on their health, apart from leaving them fatigued during their patrolling duty, the Committee observed.During its visit to Pakistan and Bangladesh borders, manned by the Border Security Force, the committee found that the conventional BOPs lacked basic facilities.Pointing out that only 422 out of 1,901 BOPs had good facilities, the committee was “constrained” to observe that several BOPs did not have even the most essential facilities such as provision for filtered drinking water or proper barracks. “It is inhuman to make jawans live and sleep without a fan in the BOPs,” the committee said.During its visits, the committee found that in Punjab, the road connectivity in border areas was very bad, which could significantly slow down the movement of forces and cause hardships during an emergency.The BSF has projected a requirement of 700 km of road links in Punjab. Further, widespread illegal sand mining in border areas of Punjab had also worsened the road conditions.

Report findings

• Due to shortage of manpower, jawans are forced to perform 16 to 18 hours of duty in a day, taking a toll on their health
• Only 422 out of 1,901 conventional border outposts have basic facilities, while most lack drinking water or proper barracks
• Road connectivity in border areas of Punjab is poor, which may slow down the movement of forces and cause hardships during an emergency