A dozen new battalions (about 13,000 personnel) for the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will be raised over the next four years. A battalion comprises over 1,000 personnel. The SSB guards the frontiers along Nepal and Bhutan. The 12 new battalions will be raised in phases. Three battalions each will be raised over the next four years.
The new battalions will be used to reduce inter-border outpost distance, strengthen trade and transit routes along Nepal and Bhutan and fortify the paramilitary’s deployments at the tri-junction area in Sikkim. The tri-junction area is the plateau between India, Bhutan and Tibet and the SSB is deployed just below it on the southern side, being the designated border force for Bhutan frontier.
The SSB with a present strength of about 90,000 personnel is the lead intelligence agency along 1,751 km open border with Nepal and 699 km boundary with Bhutan.
The Centre has also sanctioned 548 posts to the force for deployment at four ICPs (integrated check posts) along the Nepal frontier out of which two are already operational at Jogbani and Raxaul (in Bihar). The additional manpower will also be deployed for upgrading the existing border posts at strategically important locations along the two frontiers besides bolstering the security at the eight ICPSs.
The sanction of new battalions and establishments was granted as a follow up to Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewing the operations of the SSB in October, 2019 and subsequent directions to the paramilitary to conduct
a “vulnerability assessment and gap analysis” of the two borders, officials said.
Following this, the SSB came up with a proposal suggesting requirement of 12 new battalions, a frontier headquarter and at least 3 sector headquarters that would be used to enhance logistical and administrative support to its border units as also for deployments for internal security roles in the hinterland.
