The senior BSF official's visit to the area of responsibility of India - Bangladesh border under Mizoram and Cachar Frontier - took off on last Sunday.
Sources in the BSF on Wednesday said Rai, who took over the charge of special director general (east) in Kolkata last month is on a familiarization tour of Mizoram, Assam and Manipur. However, his visit is significant in view of the Indian Prime Minister's September 6 visit to the neighbouring country along with five chief ministers of the region.
Apart from this, Rai, who held the position of director of BSF Academy, Tekanpur, before becoming SDG (east), is on a mission to upgrade the standard of all matters, including operations and administrative activities in this part of northeast bordering Bangladesh.
Sources said Rai, who is an experienced IPS officer, is looking into the aspect of border management and border policing issue along the Indo-Bangladesh border during this visit. He interacted with jawans of BSF battalions guarding the International border of Mizoram and Assam with Bangladesh on his tour.
Rai praised the jawans deployed under Mizoram and Cachar Frontier of BSF for their physical and mental toughness while serving in the extreme hard terrain. He has been regularly giving special attention to civic action programmes and other welfare measures for helping border populace, the sources added.
The SDG, during his visit, also took up various measures to provide adequate accommodation, clothing, composite BOPs etc to the jawans. Beside, BSF troops have been equipped with the latest technology equipment for enhancing the communication set-up, a BSF official added.
India shares a 4,023 km (2,500 miles) border with Bangladesh on the east, while Barak Valley in Assam has a 124 km border with the neighbouring country. The Indo-Bangladeshi barrier is a 4,000 km fence that India is currently constructing to seal off the Indian international border in order to prevent illegal immigration and smuggling of weapons and narcotics. The project also includes installation of floodlights.