Patna, June 29: Toeing the line of Bihar police, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will start community policing in the districts on the India-Nepal border.

The SSB has selected over a dozen villages in seven bordering districts of the state, where the central paramilitary force personnel would launch different welfare schemes.

“We have selected certain villages in the bordering districts to take up welfare schemes. Recently, the SSB provided solar lights to Matiariya village under Gaunaha block in West Champaran district at a cost of Rs 18 lakh,” said SSB inspector-general (frontier headquarters) Aditya Mishra.

Mishra told The Telegraph that village-level committees had been set up in important districts along the India-Nepal border to develop better understanding between the security personnel and the local residents.

The committee comprising important government officials, villagers and SSB personnel would hold regular meetings and share information.

The SSB has embarked upon a detailed welfare plan for the villagers. “I have asked the commandants of the battalions deployed on the international border to organise medical camps in the villages adjacent to the border outposts (BOPs) and take up sanitation work,” the IG said, adding that the exercise aimed at improving the living condition of the rural masses.

He said the veterinary doctors would provide medical care to the cattle of the farmers of the area and purchase edible products from them. “Earlier, the SSB personnel used to take up welfare schemes in some villages along the border but were not visible. There should be visible impact of the schemes,” he added.

Sources said the SSB has selected only those villages, which have been identified as vulnerable from the security point of view. The solar lights were provided to the residents of Matiariya village, which is situated on the border and is also surrounded by dense forest.

Sources said the area was affected by Maoist activities. “Earlier, training camps of the Naxalites were running in the forest adjacent to Matiariya village,” a local resident said, adding that the welfare programmes were taken up by the central force to win the confidence of the people.

Regular interaction with the local populace would help the SSB get intelligence inputs about illegal activities thriving on the border. “Once you take the local people into confidence, you can easily keep a close surveillance on the people involved in anti-national activities in the bordering areas,” an assistant SSB commandant said.

The frontier headquarters often received complaints about skirmishes between the security personnel and the local residents over petty issues. Four persons were killed and five others were injured in Araria district in December 2010 when SSB personnel deputed at Batraha BOP opened fire.

The Bihar police have already launched community policing in Naxalite-affected districts.

“We have received positive results of community policing introduced by the state police headquarters,” Bihar director-general of police Neel Mani said.