JK, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan CMs to join review meet
AGENCY
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will review the security situation along the Indo-Pak border on October 7 and 8 at Jaisalmer with Chief Ministers of four states whose boundaries touch Pakistan and top BSF officials.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will deliberate on ways to completely seal the Indo-Pak border.
“It is a meeting of the Union Home Minister with the Home Ministers of the four states. Since the Chief Ministers and the Deputy Chief Minister (of Punjab) are holding the Home portfolio, they are participating in the meeting,” a Home Ministry official said.
During the two-day trip, the Home Minister will tour border areas of Rajasthan and will visit Munabao, Border out Post in Barmer and interact with BSF personnel.
Singh will also visit Murar, BoP in Jaisalmer and asses the situation along the Indo-Pak border.
The meeting is being called apparently to bring a synergy among the state police forces and Border Security Force, which guards the Indo-Pak border.
Issues concerning the states are also expected to be discussed in the two-day deliberations, the officials said.
There have been many incidents of infiltration of terrorists through the border in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and trans-border smuggling of goods, narcotics and fake Indian currency notes in Rajasthan and Gujarat, they said.
Of the 3,323-km-long Indo-Pak border, 1,225 km falls in Jammu and Kashmir (including Line of Control), 553 km in Punjab, 1,037 km in Rajasthan and 508 km in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, Rajnath Singh is set to visit the BSF outposts along the border during his visit to Jaisalmer on October 7.
The minister will arrive on Friday and will chair a meeting with chief ministers and home ministers of the states which share borders with Pakistan.
On October 8, he will go to Munabao in Barmer.
Elaborate arrangements are being made for his visit, sources told.
