NEW DELHI : Senior IPS officer B D Sharma today took over as the new chief of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a force that guards the Indo-Nepal and the Indo-Bhutan borders.
Sharma, a 1980-batch police officer of the West Bengal cadre, was handed over the charge by CISF chief Arvind Ranjan who was holding the top post in an additional capacity since over three months.
Incumbent SSB Director General Arun Chaudhary had retired on April 30.
The government had cleared Sharma’s appointment on August 12.
Sharma would be holding the top post till January 2016, which is his scheduled retirement.
A resident of Rajasthan, Sharma has worked as a Professor of Botany before he joined the Indian Police Service.
He had earlier served in various capacities in another border guarding force — BSF and in his home cadre of West Bengal police.
The SSB, a 60,000-strong force, is mandated to guard Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan even as it is deployed for a variety of internal security duties including conducting anti-Naxal operations in states of Chhattisgarh and Bihar. (AGENCIES)