RANDHAWA ASSAILS CENTRE’S DECISION TO UNILATERALLY EXTEND BSF JURISDICTION

Chandigarh, October 13: Slamming the Centre for the recent amendment in Section 139 of the BSF Act that tantamounts to an attack on federalism, Deputy Chief Minister S. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa asked the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to immediately withdraw this decision.

BSF JURISDICTION

In a statement, S. Randhawa, who also holds the portfolio of Home Affairs said this illogical decision was absolutely against the spirit of the raising of border guarding forces, which are required to focus on the international border and act as the first line of defense. He said that policing in the hinterland is not the role of a border guarding force, rather it would weaken the capacity of the Border Security Force in discharging its primary duty of guarding the international border.

The Deputy CM further said that he would soon personally call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to resolve this issue.

Meanwhile, S. Randhawa categorically said that Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has neither raised this issue with the Centre nor asked for enhancing the jurisdiction of BSF along with the international border.

Emphasizing the need for excellent cooperation between Central and State agencies, S. Randhawa said that such coordination must be enhanced with information sharing for taking prompt action to resist illegal activities. He further said that joint operations against drugs and terrorist modules have been successfully conducted between the BSF and Punjab Police in the past besides mechanisms for information sharing and coordination are already in place. There are no justifiable reasons for unilaterally changing the existing arrangements by the Government of India, except to weaken the State Government and the spirit of federalism, asserted the Deputy CM.