Kathmandu, October 16

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed infrastructure development projects and security arrangements along the Indo-Nepal border during a meeting in New Delhi yesterday.

The review meeting was attended by Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Secretary (Border Management) Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Director General SSB BD Sharma and senior officers from the Ministry of External Affairs as well as security agencies, according to a statement issued by Press India Bureau. The concerns of cross-border crime, fake Indian currency notes, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and anti-India propaganda in the border areas were also discussed in the meeting, according to the statement.

The statement added that progress on border roads in the Indian states of Bihar, UP and Uttarakhand was also discussed along with the issue of connectivity and communication in the bordering states. The matter of starting FM radio stations was also taken up with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting along with the issue of connectivity with the Ministry of Communications and IT.

The Empowered Committee on Border Infrastructure has been regularly reviewing the needs of electricity, water, mobile and road connectivity to facilitate the border guarding force in these areas.

Meanwhile, Times of India, an Indian national daily, reported that the Indian home ministry had decided to beef up security on the Indo-Nepal border after intelligence agencies warned of increased activities by Jehadi elements, fake currency smugglers as well as drugs and human traffickers as Nepal grapples with internal crisis.

The paper added that India had decided to put in place a multi-layered security along the 1751km long border with Nepal which will be set up within 15 km from the border areas in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim.