Patna, Feb. 14: Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel would be for the first time deployed for anti-naxalite operations in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The SSB has so far been responsible for guarding the country’s frontier.

The Centre has given its nod for the deployment of one battalion of the SSB in Bihar and two battalions in neighbouring Jharkhand. The deployment of the additional central paramilitary force would give a fillip to the ongoing operations against the rebels in the two states.

SSB inspector-general (frontier headquarters) Aditya Mishra said the training of the three battalions of the force has started. “The personnel of the battalion to be deployed in Bihar are undergoing training at Bagaha and Narkatiaganj in West Champaran district,” he said.

In Jharkhand, the SSB personnel were being trained at Padma in Hazaribagh and Netarhat in Latehar districts. “They would be deployed for operations after completion of a month’s rigorous training. The special trainers of the Central Reserve Police Force and the SSB have been deputed for the purpose,” Mishra told The Telegraph.

The IG, however, said the SSB personnel were earlier deployed in Chhattisgarh (another Naxal-hit state) for quite sometime in 2011 and also to counter insurgency in Assam. “Our men are for the first time being deployed for operations against the Maoists in Bihar and Jharkhand,” he said.

Mishra clarified that the purpose behind deployment of the SSB in the anti-Naxalite drive was to train the personnel of all central paramilitary force (CPMF), so that they could be used at the time of exigency. So far, the SSB’s orientation was to guard the country’s borders, he added.

One battalion comprises around 1,000 jawans. Authoritative sources said 11 battalions of the SSB were at present deployed on the India-Nepal frontier. One company of the women battalion of the elite force has also been deputed to check smuggling on the porous border in Bihar.