BSF woman battalion ready for deployment

Guarding frontiers of India will no longer remain exclusive ‘men forte’. India’s elite border security force (BSF) is finally ready to take a giant leap forward by way of inducting its first ever woman battalion, which was put to rigorous training in the recent months to meet the challenges on hand.

Director General BSF ML Kumawat ,visiting Jammu frontier on Saturday said, “first ever ‘mahila battalion’ of about 1,000 women is ready to be commissioned next week and is ready to take on the bigger responsibility of guarding frontiers of mother Nation.

The woman battalion will be commissioned at a special passing out parade on July 25 in Khatka, Punjab. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is expected to attend the passing out parade, he added.

“The young women are full of excitement,patriotic zeal and are rearing to go. They are fully equipped and trained hard to break in to the exclusive male bastion,” Kumawat told reporters about the positive development.

Breifly commenting on the role of these women in the frontier force, presently deployed in Naxal-hit areas and along the International border with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, Kumawat said to begin with woman force will be deployed on the borders for frisking, checking and seizures.

The idea is to curb narcotics smuggling, women child trafficking and trans-border crimes which are growing in the absence of women force deployed on the border.

Responding to the repeated question of situation along the International border DG,BSF said, “Pakistan needs to take a decisive action against militants by dismantling training camps running inside their territory.”