Border Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal get new chiefs

Two of the country’s three border guarding forces - the Border Security Force and the Sashastra Seema Bal - got new chiefs Sunday, a senior official said.

Rajni Kant Misra, a 1984-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IPS officer and the SSB Director General (DG) since October last year, took over as the new DG of the BSF. His batchmate S S Deswal became the DG of the SSB.

Deswal, who was serving as the Special DG of the BSF, is from the Haryana cadre of the Indian Police Service.

Both the chiefs took charge of their respective forces Sunday afternoon, the official said.

Misra took charge from K K Sharma, who retired Sunday.

While Misra will be the in charge of the BSF till August next year, his scheduled retirement time, Deswal will superannuate in August, 2021, the official said.

The BSF is the country’s largest border guarding force with over 2.5 lakh personnel in its ranks and is tasked to guard the Indian frontiers with Pakistan (over 3,000 km) and Bangladesh (4,096km).

The 90,000-personnel strong SSB is tasked to guard the borders with Nepal (1,751 km) and Bhutan (699 km).

The third frontier guarding force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (guarding 3,488 km India-China border) will also have a new chief next month with the retirement of DG R K Pachnanda.

All these forces work under the command of the Union Home Ministry and are also known as the Central Armed Police Forces.