India constructing ‘permanent vertical bunkers’ for BSF troops at Gujarat creek

Gujarat, Jan 3 : The government of India is building “permanent vertical bunkers” for stationing BSF troops at the strategic location of Sir Creek and ‘Harami Nalla' marshy area, close to the India-Pakistan International Border in Gujarat, said the official sources. A Rs 50-crore fund has been approved by the Union Home Ministry for building the eight multi-storeyed bunkers cum observation posts keeping in mind the “constant infiltration of Pakistani fishermen and fishing boats in the area”, said the sources to India-based news agency sources.
As per the official information, 22 Pakistani fishermen were apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) and 79 fishing boats were seized along with heroin worth Rs 250 crore and charas worth Rs 2.49 crore from Gujarat in 2022.The sources stated that three pylon-shaped towers are being built in the Sir Creek area, and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) will construct five such structures in a 4,050 sq km marshy area between the two countries and the ‘harami nalla' area, which is spread 900 sq km of area.
The officials stated that space will be provided at the top floor of every 42-foot high ‘vertical bunker' for placing surveillance gadgets and radars to monitor the area that includes serpentine estuaries. The rest two floors of the bunkers will have the capacity to include 15 armed BSF personnel as well as their logistics, they said. The officials said that the bunkers are being built in the Lakhpat Wari bet, Dafa bet and Samudra bet which fall on the eastern side of the creek, within the territory of India. A senior BSF officer said that armed protection is being provided by a BSF contingent to the labourers who are building three bunkers under the CPWD in the Sir Creek area and aiming to complete it by March. He added that the ocean is likely to get turbulent from April and hence, the work is progressing at war footing. The decision of constructing the bunker was taken after BSF director general (DG) Pankaj Kumar Singh, while on a tour to the Gujarat border with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in April last year, gave a presentation on how the creek area is prone to infiltration and that the security apparatus of BSF was located way behind.