New Delhi, March 27: The deployment of the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on the borders with Nepal and Bhutan has checked activities by subversive, militant and fundamentalist elements, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said here Sunday.

In the past, the unmanned borders with both countries allowed forces inimical to India's interests to carry out their designs, Patil noted.

But since the SSB was entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the borders, the situation had considerably improved, he said while addressing a function to mark the 42nd anniversary of the raising of the SSB.

SSB Director General Himanshu Kumar said his men had arrested 586 criminals, including 439 smugglers and 55 Maoist rebels, on the India-Nepal border last year and seized narcotics, fake currency and small arms valued at over Rs.80 million.

Patil said the SSB's deployment along the India-Bhutan border was still very thin, but with the likely addition of 20 more battalions in the next two years, the gaps would be plugged.

The cabinet had already approved raising these battalions, Patil said, noting this would provide an opportunity to the youth, particularly in border areas, to help safeguard national security.

Patil underlined the fact that guarding India's borders with Nepal and Bhutan would not be possible by the armed forces or police alone and would require a conscious and alert population committed to national security.

He said as people could move freely across the borders with Bhutan and Nepal, manning them required sensitive handling. These borders also comprise some extremely inhospitable terrain, he noted.

Patil assured the SSB of all assistance to resolve expeditiously the problems faced by it in its new role. He expressed happiness over the fact that the SSB had reached out to the border population by extending medical facilities.

An exciting display of fencing and martial arts was the highlight of the function.

Patil inspected a colourful parade and took salute of the marching contingents. He also awarded the President's Police Medal for distinguished service to one officer and the Police Medal for meritorious service to 16 officers and the Prime Minister's Life Saving Medal posthumously to Constable Moti Lal.

The SSB was set up as the Special Security Bureau in 1963 in the wake of the border conflict with China to create a network capable of carrying out a resistance in the face of any infiltration or occupation of Indian territory by enemy forces.

The highly secretive force was given a new charter of duty following a comprehensive revamp of India's security apparatus after the 1999 Kargil border conflict with Pakistan and assigned the task of guarding India's borders with Bhutan and Nepal.
Courtesy Indo-Asian News Service