Decision will benefit border dwellers: Dr Jitendra
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 14: Setting the process for construction of bunkers for the border dwellers of International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) for five districts of Jammu region into motion, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today approved Phase-I of the construction and directed the State Government to immediately start work on them to protect the border people from shelling and firing by the Pakistani troops.
Significantly, Rajnath approved construction of bunkers in all five border districts of Jammu region including Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts a day after the Excelsior highlighted delay in their construction by the State Government on the pretext of no release of funds by the Union Home Ministry.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Rajnath Singh today cleared construction of 13029 individual bunkers and 1431 community bunkers spread over all five districts of Jammu region in the Phase-I. An amount of Rs 415.73 crores has been released for the construction work, they said.
As per the proposal cleared by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the individual bunkers would have capacity of eight members each while community bunkers would accommodate 40 persons each.
Rajnath had announced a total of 19,000 individual and 4700 community bunkers for the people of five border districts of Jammu region during his visit to Nowshera sector on the Line of Control on his four-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir from September 9 to 12.
Out of 19,000 individual bunkers, the Union Home Minister today cleared construction of 13029 bunkers and out of 4700 community bunkers, 1431 have been cleared for construction.
Rajnath’s announcement came after Union Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh met him and brought to his notice the need for early construction of bunkers to protect the border dwellers from frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistan.
Dr Jitendra Singh, who had constantly been following the issue of construction of bunkers in the Union Home Ministry, expressed his gratitude to Rajnath Singh for approving constructions in Phase-I and hoped that construction of remaining bunkers would also be cleared at the earliest.
Dr Jitendra Singh requested Rajnath Singh that, if feasible, the construction of bunkers should be carried out directly by a Central Agency like CPWD or NBCC so that the monitoring could be direct and the entire process could be expedited. He said, the past experience indicates that the State Government possibly does not have enough of infrastructure or know-how to carry forward the construction of bunkers on an immediate basis.
Recalling the past sequence of events, Dr Jitendra Singh said, construction of bunkers had been a long standing demand made by the BJP even when the party was not in power. However, it was only the Modi Government which took cognizance of the demand and moved forward on it. Not only this, he said, initially the plan was to construct only the Community bunkers, but on a demand from certain sections for construction of Individual bunkers, the Union Home Ministry decided to fund a combination of both Community bunkers as well as Individual bunkers, as and where feasible.
Dr Jitendra Singh gave full credit to the Union Home Ministry and Rajnath Singh for having responded to border area demands with great sensitivity and expressed the hope that other issues like compensation for the land acquired, etc. will also be addressed in due course of time.
“The community and individual bunkers will be constructed in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, all falling on the International Border and Rajouri and Poonch districts on the Line of Control (LoC),” sources said. This year has witnessed highest ever ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
In another significant decision, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs today announced that it would reimburse entire compensation made to the victims of cross border firing under the NDRF norms by the State Government. The compensation under NDRF norms will be paid for loss of crops, livestock and damage to houses etc.
“The reimbursement will be made at the rates that equal the NDRF,” sources said.
The Government is already in the process of increasing compensation for the border firing victims.
The MHA’s order clearing Phase-I of the construction of bunkers will meet long pending demand of the border dwellers, who have repeatedly been asking for the bunkers to save them from Pakistan’s shelling and firing as the ceasefire violations continued to go up on both International Border and Line of Control.
Sources pointed out that the bunkers would be equipped with all facilities like kitchen and bathrooms and adequate ventilation to ensure that the people could stay there even for a longer period in case of any eventuality. A number of civilians have become victims of Pakistan shelling and firing this year on both LoC and IB.
It may be mentioned here that during his four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from September 9 to 12 this year, Rajnath had also visited Nowshera sector along the LoC in Rajouri district, which was then worst affected by Pakistan army’s mortar shelling and firing, and announced construction of 19,000 individual and 4700 community bunkers for the border dwellers of five districts. He had announced that cost of all bunkers would be borne by the MHA.
Later, the MHA had set up high-level Study Group headed by Special Secretary (Internal Security) Rina Mitra to assess other problems of the border dwellers. The Group had visited all five border districts and gave its preliminary findings to the Union Home Minister.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
