Hazaribagh: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah addressed the 59th Raising Day celebrations of Border Security Force (BSF) in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand as the chief guest.
Amit Shah also released the annual magazine of the Border Security Force ‘Borderman’.
Many dignitaries including the Director General of Border Security Force were present on this occasion.
Amit Shah said that duty for life is not only the slogan of BSF but till date more than 1900 border guards have also fulfilled this sentence by making the supreme sacrifice of their lives.
He said that lakhs of border guards have spent the golden period of their lives living away from their families in difficult circumstances.
He said that as the first line of defense of the country’s borders, the way BSF has secured the inaccessible borders of the country, the entire country is proud of these brave soldiers of the Border Security Force.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken an important decision, deployment of only one security force on one border.
He said that under this decision, the responsibility of protecting the most inaccessible borders of Pakistan and Bangladesh was given to the Border Security Force, which BSF has performed very well.
He said that be it the snowy areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the mountains of the North-East, the deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the marshy areas of Gujarat or the dense forests of Sundarbans and Jharkhand, the BSF has always remained alert and foiled the nefarious intentions of the enemy.
The Border Security Force has set new standards of service and bravery at the international level even in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Shah said that a country whose borders are not secure can never develop and prosper.
Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made progress in every field and this is possible only when our borders are protected by the sacrifice, penance, sacrifice and bravery of our brave soldiers.
He said that the brave soldiers who protect the country’s borders are the foundation of the country’s development.
Shah said that the life of BSF soldiers not only protects the borders but also gives a message of discipline to the youth of the country.
He said that today a total of 23 soldiers have been given bravery medals and 5 soldiers have been given medals posthumously.
Out of these 23 soldiers, 11 soldiers have been given Police Medal for Gallantry, 1 soldier has been given Life Saving Medal and 11 soldiers have been given President’s Police Medal for distinguished service.
Shah told the families of the five martyrs who received medals posthumously that no one can compensate for their loss but the 130 crore people of the country will always be proud of the sacrifice of these martyrs.
He said that BSF has received many medals and awards including 1 Mahavir Chakra, 4 Kirti Chakra, 13 Vir Chakra and 13 Shaurya Chakra.
The Union Home Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always given top priority to border security and under the leadership of Modi, many steps have been taken in the last 10 years towards strengthening the security of the borders.
He said that the Modi government has given importance to all three – security, development and democratic process.
He said that the Modi government started building strong infrastructure in the border areas with a budget of thousands of crores of rupees.
Along with this, Modi also started a new concept of public welfare along with security by force by connecting the Border Security Force and all other forces with many welfare schemes in the border villages.
Shah said that good rail, road, water-way connectivity and telecommunication facilities have also been increased in the border areas.
He said that along with land border trade, people to people connect has also been increased.
Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last 10 years, work has been done to curb infiltration and smuggling by erecting about 560 kilometers of fencing on the borders.
He said that in the next two years the entire Pakistan and Bangladesh border will be secured by fencing.
Shah said that floodlights have been installed in 1100 km area on the border, 542 new border outposts and 510 observation post towers have been built, observation towers have been built in Harami Nala area for the first time, electricity has been provided at 637 outposts and at about 500 places.
Water connections are provided.
Apart from this, the convenience of the soldiers guarding the border has been ensured by installing solar plants at 472 places.
The Union Home Minister said that the People Inclusive Border Management Policy of the Modi government has greatly reduced the workload of the border guards. He said that in the last 5 years, BSF has seized more than 30 thousand kilograms of narcotics.
He said that narcotics not only hollows out the future generation of the country but the money generated from it also finances terrorism and also the movement of weapons through this trade link established on the border.
Shah said that for these three reasons it is very important that we have a strict, zero tolerance and sensitive policy towards narcotics trade along the entire international border and BSF has done this very well.
Amit Shah said that BSF has captured more than 2500 weapons and BSF has done very good experiments with evolving technology like anti-drone technology.
He said that the Border Security Force has so far shot down more than 90 foreign drones and BSF has established drone and cyber forensic lab in New Delhi to identify its route.
The Union Home Minister said that the day is not far when the country will be completely free from leftist extremism and the Modi government has made continuous efforts in this direction in the last 10 years.
He said that as a result of the efforts of the Modi government, incidents of violence have reduced by 52 percent, deaths by 70 percent and Left Wing Extremism affected districts have reduced from 96 to 45.
Shah said that leftist extremism is now shrinking and now CRPF, BSF and ITBP are ready to attack it with new courage and enthusiasm.
He said that the Modi government is committed to freeing the country from leftist extremism in the coming days.
He said that 199 new camps have been opened since 2019 to fill the security vacuum in these areas.
Shah said that by setting up new camps and increasing patrolling, all the resources of the Left Wing Extremists have been controlled and as a result of this we have succeeded in completely freeing the difficult areas like Budha Pahad and Chakarbanda from Left Wing Extremism.
He said that the final battle against leftist extremism is still going on in Kolhan and some areas of Jharkhand and we will definitely win this battle too.
Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, more than 40 lakh Ayushman CAPF cards have been distributed across the country along with all the CAPFs.
He said that Modi has also done the work of providing houses to about 13,000 soldiers, 113 new barracks have been built and soon 11,000 more houses will be given to the soldiers and 108 barracks will also be built.
He said that by the end of this year, the work of providing houses to more than 24,000 soldiers in the last 5 years will be completed.
Apart from this, vacant houses have been allotted to more than 70 thousand soldiers through CAPF e-housing portal.
He said that the Narendra Modi government has done many things like air courier services, bringing equality in ex-gratia and increasing the central ex-gratia.
Shah said that during the 10 years of Narendra Modi’s rule, we have succeeded in winning the battle in Jammu and Kashmir, Left Wing Extremism affected areas and the three hotspots of the North-East.
He said that today complete supremacy of security forces has been established over terrorism in Kashmir, the situation of violence in North East has also improved a lot and we are standing on the verge of winning the fight against leftist extremism and BSF is playing a vital role in the fight on all these fronts.
There is a huge contribution of soldiers.