New Delhi, January 14

The government is planning to raise 15 new battalions in the country’s two important border guarding forces—the BSF and the ITBP—to fortify defence along the strategic frontiers with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.A senior official in the Union Home Ministry said it was “actively considering” raising six fresh battalions in the Border Security Force (BSF) and nine in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force. Each battalion of these forces comprises about 1,000 operational jawans and officers.Sources in the BSF said the force had projected enhancing manpower by sanctioning of new units so that they could be deployed in the Assam and West Bengal flanks of the Indo-Bangladesh border even as a similar addition in numbers was required to effectively guard the India-Pakistan International Border (IB), especially in Punjab and Jammu regions, in the near future.“The exact locations for the new battalions could be gauged as and when they are raised but a few areas along Bangladesh and Pakistan will remain a priority owing to their vulnerability profile such as infiltration, drugs smuggling, human trafficking and illegal migration,” a senior BSF officer said.Similarly, the ITBP has been trying to reduce the inter-BoP (border out post) distance at the 3,488-km long icy frontier that it is tasked with guarding.“The original projection was to have 12 fresh battalions for the ITBP but the force requires nine such units in the near future,” a senior ITBP officer said. — PTI