India deploys more forces at Nepal border

NEW DELHI, March 26 (UPI) -- India has deployed additional security forces along the border with Nepal ahead of elections in that country, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

"In five states adjoining the border with Nepal, SSB has set up 20 battalions and 445 border outposts," a top ministry official said. "We have mobilized additional manpower in view of the constituent assembly polls."

SSB refers to the Sashastra Seema Bal, the paramilitary force that guards India's borders with Nepal and Tibet.

The official said the move came following meetings between high-level security officials from both countries, and the Nepalese side was cooperating.

"We have received direction from the Interior Ministry to make foolproof security arrangements for the polls in Nepal," SSB Director General Gopal Sharma said. "We are working together with state police to rule out lapses in these arrangements."

A high-level meeting has been called at the Interior Ministry April 1 to take stock of the security arrangement, said the official who declined to be identified.

"We are training seven companies comprising women officers to deploy them along the border," Sharma said, adding there was no plan to fence the Indo-Nepal border.