SSB seeks 1,100 troops to guard ICPs along Nepal

Border guarding force SSB has sought the government's sanction to deploy about 1,100 troops to guard the four integrated check posts (ICPs) located along the open India-Nepal front, officials said on Tuesday. Two ICPs each are located in Uttar Pradesh (Sunauli and Rupaidiha) and Bihar (Raxaul and Jogbani).

While the ICPs located in Bihar are operational, the two in Uttar Pradesh have been sanctioned by the Union government and will be operationalised soon, they said. An ICP is a trade centre for facilitation of bilateral trade between the two countries as well as for the movement of passengers across the border.

A number of government agencies like the Customs, anti-narcotics department, trade, immigration, security agencies among others are stationed at each of these locations. "A proposal for creation of 1,096 posts for guarding four ICPs on Indo-Nepal border has been taken up with the Ministry of Home Affairs," a senior SSB officer said.

He said these posts have been sought against the vacancy of 2,014 civilian personnel posts who have been transferred to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) sometime back. The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression, is the designated force to guard the 1,751-km long India-Nepal border apart from the 699-km India-Bhutan frontier.

The force functions under the command of the Union Home Ministry.