Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran has urged all to not read too much into media reports that the Indian border guards plan to fly drones along the Bangladesh frontiers.
He made the comment on Wednesday while visiting Akhaura land port with an Indian home ministry delegation to see the progress of their infrastructure development project.
Replying to a question, the envoy said they made no decision to introduce unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), reportedly unarmed, on the skylines.
He reiterated his governments commitment to bring down border killings and said any decision to manage borders would be taken jointly.
Indian newspapers earlier reported that the BSF would soon deploy the UAVs along the border with Pakistan to maintain heightened vigil and planned to follow suit on the borders with Bangladesh.
But these UAVs will be unarmed, the reports said.
Following the reports, Dhaka on Monday sought clarification from the New Delhi.
However, Border Security Forces (BSF) Director General Subhash Joshi told Indian news agency PTI that the force had made no such deployment.
We are looking for various technological measures to upgrade security along our borders. However, there is no deployment of UAVs at present as such and no specific proposal in this regard was being considered.
However, the DG told PTI that a number of technology solutions are being considered which may include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in future.
Media reports said BSF was currently engaged with the Indian Air Force in drafting a standard operating procedure for the UAVs to finalise the modalities of their use.
The UAVs would be flying at an altitude of 10,000-12,000 feet to capture images and relay real-time information on the movement of illegal migrants , if any, anywhere near the border, the reports added.
India has deployed UAVs to check poaching at Kaziranga national park to keep away those who hunt endangered one-horned rhinos and other wildlife.
Former BSF officials said there was no reason to object to UAV deployment.
These are not armed drones like the US uses in Pakistan. These are only unarmed monitoring aids which will guide our forces to where they should be, said retired BSF IG SK Dutt.
No decision on flying drones: Indian envoy - bdnews24.com