Political changes in Nepal and the growing Chinese influence in the neighbouring country are some of the major challenges for the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the Central armed force deployed along the Nepal-Bhutan border.
The SSB said it was “more alert” and was enhancing its strength and establishing new border posts in Sikkim along the Bhutan frontier, next to the Doklam region that recently saw a standoff between Indian and Chinese forces.
Porous Nepal border
SSB Director General Rajni Kant Mishra, while interacting with journalists on the occasion of the force’s 54th Raising Day, shared a presentation on “operational challenges” which said 27% of pillars were missing along the Nepal border.
“We are [deployed] just below the tri-junction (India-Bhutan-Tibet), on the southern part of it. On the Bhutan border, in Sikkim, we are more alert and there is going to be a slightly increased strength on that border. We are going to get some BoPs (border outposts) and a battalion headquarters is coming up there,” Mr. Mishra said when asked about the SSB’s preparations in view of the 73 day-long military standoff between India and China in Doklam last summer.
Mr. Mishra added that the location and land for the new BoP that would come up in Yuksom in Sikkim had been cleared by the government and it should not be seen as a development coming in the aftermath of the Doklam standoff. “We have the sanction to establish a total of 734 BoPs along both the Nepal and Bhutan borders and we have 635 now on the ground,” he said.
With the establishment of the battalion headquarters and the BoP, almost 1,000 more troops would be deployed in the area.
