Be sympathetic, sensitive to BSF: Vice President Dhankhar to state governments

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

Vice President Jagdeep Dhakhar on Wednesday appealed to all the governments, particularly those having international borders, to remain sympathetic and sensitive to Border Security Force (BSF), the personnel of which face immense challenges in guarding India’s long, complex and porous frontiers.

The Vice President (VP) also asked all the states to take affirmative steps and sensitise their machineries and mechanism to ensure that the morale of the BSF personnel always remain high as ever.

Delivering Rustamji Memorial Lecture – 2023 during the 20th Investiture Ceremony of the BSF here Dhankhar also asked the citizens in border areas to “be extension of BSF and supportive to the force”. He also asked for creating a mechanism to take care of cattle seized by BSF from smugglers.

At the Investiture Ceremony, 35 BSF personnel were awarded, which included 2 Police Medals for Gallantry and 33 Police Medals for Meritorious Service. The BSF was raised in 1965 and is primarily tasked with guarding the Indian frontier with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Dhankhar said India was moving on an unprecedented growth trajectory and would be a “global” leader by 2047, the year it will commemorate a hundred years of Independence. He stressed that the economic progress of the country was deeply connected to its security, and security forces such as the BSF were guardians of the “holistic growth” of India.

Dhankhar said national security was the “cornerstone” of the country’s progressive prosperity, and the developments that should have come earlier are taking place now.

“You see the kind of road infrastructure we have, the kind of technological involvement that is taking place, the kind of arms that are being made available and the kind of facilities that are being created for the human resource...This not an obligation, this is our duty (towards the security forces like the BSF),” the VP said.

Dhankhar said India was on a rise like “never before” and this rise was unstoppable and the incremental growth trajectory will go high from here and by 2047, ‘Bharat’ will be a global leader.