Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reached Jammu and Kashmir on Monday to inaugurate two pilot projects of “smart” border fencing built under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) programme.

Singh will travel to a forward area in Jammu to inaugurate the ambitious project as part of a day-long tour, a senior official said.

The two projects, each covering a 5.5 km-border stretch along the International Border in Jammu, are set to get a first-of-a-kind high-tech surveillance system that will create an invisible electronic barrier on land, water and even in air and underground, helping the Border Security Force (BSF) detect and foil infiltration bids in the most difficult terrains.

The technology is being implemented by the Border Security Force and senior officials of the paramilitary will present a demonstration of the activation and response mechanism of the ‘smart fence’ before the home minister, said an official.

“Smart fencing uses a number of devices for surveillance, communication and data storage.

“Sensors like thermal imager, underground sensors, fiber optical sensors, radar and sonar will be mounted on different platforms like aerostat, tower and poles as part of the smart fence,” he added.

CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms that form an invisible land fence, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids through tunnels, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance device in real time.

The programme is a more robust border management system which is seamlessly integrating modern technology with human resource, a Home Ministry official said.

“Based on integrated border management system, this virtual fence would be first of its kind initiative in India,” said the official.

The officer said the CIBMS is designed to guard stretches where physical surveillance is not possible either due to inhospitable terrain or riverine borders.

(With agency inputs)