BSF inspector general Sonali Mishra would be the first woman commander to head force’s formation along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, which is prone to narcotics and arms smuggling.
The border area also witnesses illegal drone activities that take flight across the border for reconnaissance missions and dropping of arms and drugs.
According to the officials, Sonali Mishra would replace the current IG of the Punjab frontier Mahipal Yadav in Delhi.
Earlier, she has headed the BSF formation in Kashmir, where the paramilitary guards the Line of Control (LoC), as IG. And at present, the officer is heading the BSF intelligence wing, known as the ‘G branch’ at its headquarters in the national capital New Delhi.
As per the official, Mishra, who is a 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, would be the new Inspector General (IG) of the Border Security Force’s (BSF’s) Punjab Frontier at the headquarters in Jalandhar.
Punjab shares a border of around 553-km with Pakistan and the front is prone to narcotics and arms smuggling.
The BSF Punjab frontier was raised with the birth of a border guarding force on December 1, 1965. The number of battalions has been guarding the area, from the farms of Indian farmers beyond the border fence to the Attari-Wagah integrated check-post at Amritsar.
About 2.65 lakh strong BSF personnel guards a total of 6,300 kilometers border area of India with neighboring countries – Pakistan and Bangladesh and out of this about 2,290 kilometer is the India – Pakistan border area, which runs from Jammu to Punjab To Rajasthan and Gujarat.