Drug menace: Punjab earmarks Rs 110 crore to complement BSF with anti-drone systems, home guards on border

Announcing two initiatives to combat the influx of narcotics into the state, the Punjab Government has decided to deploy Home Guards to complement the Border Security Force (BSF) on the International Border with Pakistan besides employing advanced anti-drone systems.

“For the first time in Punjab’s history, the Government of Punjab will establish a second line of defence at the border by deploying 5,000 home guards alongside the BSF,” Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said while presenting the state budget for the 2025-26 fiscal on Wednesday.

He said the state government would deploy the most advanced and effective anti-drone systems available anywhere in the world that could track and neutralise the sophisticated cross-border drones being used to drop drugs and arms inside Punjab.

“We have already started piloting cutting-edge technologies and will deploy anti-drone systems along the border in the coming year. I am allocating a budget of Rs 110 crore towards these initiatives,” he said. Out of this Rs 60 crore has been earmarked for the employment of home guards.

Home Guards are volunteers employed on a daily-wage basis under the home department to supplement the police in maintaining law and order. They are imparted basic training in policing, traffic management, emergency procedures and civil defence.

BSF officials, however, have expressed skepticism over the move, pointing out that under the current charter of duties and conditions of engagement, home guards lack the requisite training and orientation to undertake border guarding duties.

“This doesn’t seem to be a viable initiative,” KJS Cheema, a former Inspector General with the BSF, said. “On ground there would be issues of tactics, field-craft and operational procedures as well as inadequate co-ordination and synergy between the BSF troops and home guards during the conduct of operations,” he said.

Cheema said in his budget speech that the biggest threat to the progress and prosperity of Punjab is the problem of drugs. “An entire generation of youth is being eaten hollow from within due to drugs,” he remarked.

He said the bulk of the drugs coming to Punjab come from across the border and it is the primary responsibility of the union government to halt cross-border smuggling of drugs and arms.