Women personnel deployed on frontiers

NEW DELHI: The SSB, which guards the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, has deployed more than two dozen women personnel in regular security roles at the two sensitive frontiers.
    
The 29 women personnel, who have successfully finished their training, have been sent to Patna, Lucknow and Guwahati sectors for deployment along the borders. This is for the first time that the paramilitary forces have deployed women cadre in active duties at the frontiers.
    
"They have been trained at the forces training centre at Shamshi in Himachal Pradesh in weapon handling, intelligence, border management, assault course etc," a senior Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) officer said.
     
These women troops will also be available for duties during the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states.
     
The women will carry out search and frisking at check posts, immigration points and trade-routes along the Indo-Bangla and Indo-Bhutan border, sources said.
     
This first batch of women troopers is the one that was recruited under the sports quota this year. While they underwent 12 weeks of intensive training, another 770 will be ready after 43 weeks of the same training.

Once ready by March-April next year, all the seven women companies will be deployed at the borders, sources said.
    
These women hold international and national distinction in sports like weight lifting, athletics, archery, swimming, judo, taekwando and hockey.  The age profile of these women are under 25.
    
They and have also been trained to prevent trans-border smuggling, trafficking of women and children along the highly porous two borders.
    
All these women had been inducted for the posts of constables but in due course women officers at senior levels will also be recruited.
    
The seven women companies would be led by male officers as of now, the official sources said.     

The 56,000 personnel strong force guards about 650 border outposts, of which 364 are along the Nepal border and the rest are along that with Bhutan.
     
The SSB which was set up in 1963 as a Special Service Bureau after the India-China conflict, currently guards a stretch of 1,751 kilometers along the India-Nepal border and 699 kilometers along the India-Bhutan border.