Kolkata, Sep 30 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) is planning to set up a joint task force with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to check smuggling of fake Indian currency notes.
“Of late, there has been a rise in smuggling of fake currency to India. A large part of the Indo-Bangla border is porous. To check the menace, we are planning to set up a joint task force of personnel from the BSF and the Border Guard Bangladesh,” BSF Additional Director General (East) B.D. Sharma told reporters here Saturday.
He was speaking to the media after completion of director general-level talks between the BSF and the BGB in Dhaka between Sep 25-29.
This year, 46 people, including 18 Bangladeshis, were arrested for smuggling of fake Indian currency. Fake notes with a face value of Rs.16 lakh were seized.
Sharma said the BSF and the BGB were also committed to bringing down the number of deaths on the border.
“Since the adoption of non-lethal weapons, the number of deaths on the border has come down drastically,” he said.
This year, 16 people, including nine Indians, died in firing on border.
The number of deaths in border firing was the highest in 2009 at 93. The number came down to 55 in 2010 and 17 in 2011.
Sharma said 70 percent of the fencing of land border was complete and 72 percent of the sanctioned border roads had been laid.
“However, installation of border flood lights has been slow. Only 36 percent of them have been installed,” Sharma said.
