By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — India plans to build a Border Space Command as part of a larger effort to manage the country’s more than 15,000-kilometer border with China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, according to an Indian Defence Ministry source.
After concluding that fencing, unattended ground sensors and other gadgets are not sufficient to monitor the country’s porous border, the Indian Home Ministry will build advanced structures that use satellites to manage the border, the MoD source said. The Home Ministry finalized the plan this month to spend more than $2 billion in the next five years on the command.
The Home Ministry plans to send “expressions of interest” to overseas companies for advanced solutions, the source said. The ministry will also assess available worldwide technologies to create a blueprint for the plan, which will include acquiring a dedicated Home Ministry satellite, and setting up ground structures with advanced sensors, fences and electronic equipment linked to command structures.
The ministry decided to beef up border security after Indian authorities discovered a 400-meter-long tunnel from Pakistan into India on July 28. The tunnel, in the Samba district, was detected after rains forced a straight-line cave-in near border fencing.
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