In order to meet the demand of the people living adjacent to the borders for providing a reasonably adequate number of bunkers for them in addition to the ones constructed , it is absolutely in the fitness of things for the state administration to approach the Central Government for according sanction for 10000 more bunkers. The cost of these bunkers, as usual, is to be borne by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under Security Related Expenditure (SRE). It is only after the administration led by the Governor took stock of the situation and to get acquainted with the latest position in respect of the bunkers provided under the Central Government’s said scheme, that not only was the genuineness of the demand for more bunkers felt as realistic but the entire scenario about the issue too got well known. It is for these reasons only that intermittent contacts with the border residents are paramount and for knowing ground realities through various modes are kept duly lubricated.
We have expressed concern many a time through these columns about the questionable approach towards and response to the building of bunkers by the State Administration and its different agencies after the Central Government approved, sanctioned and provided sufficient fund base for such bunkers and we wish the same was not repeated in respect of the new ones sanctioned after the proposal in full was duly sent to the concerned Ministry. Learning from the past mistakes, it should be ensured that proper planning, estimates , cost analysis, transparent tendering, standard of masonry , reviewing the progress of constructions, inspections , audits and the timeline principles are strictly adhered to . In short, the entire project , looking to its very critical purpose, must be undertaken with due fastidious care, leaving no room for shortcomings of any hue.
This time,not only for the residents of the borders but for the adjoining police posts and pickets too, bunkers are proposed to be built to make their functioning more effective during critical moments thus signifying their wider utility . Perhaps, there must be cogent grounds for and hence unanimity among the border residents for more individual bunkers as compared to community bunkers since easy approachability , convenience , supervision and maintenance etc was far better and assured in individual bunkers than in community bunkers as conveyed by them to the administration of respective districts. It is learnt, therefore, the additional 10,000 bunkers proposed to be constructed after the Central Government’s sanction would be individual bunkers only. It may be recalled that 13029 individual and 1431 community bunkers have already been sanctioned for Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch districts. However, Rajouri and Poonch districts are lagging behind in the required pace of construction of bunkers where the momentum should pick up in order to have the incomplete ones fully constructed. Needless to reiterate, the importance and the level of urgency to have these bunkers constructed for the border dwellers,hardly needs any emphasis looking to their vulnerability as regards unprovoked and senseless shelling and firing from across the border .
In order to ensure speedy construction and of the required standard, the possibility of entrusting the construction of the new proposed bunkers to an agency other than the one already committed to various assignments should be mooted so that timelines are not missed and cost escalations not allowed to come up as also necessary paper work like funds utilization certificates and stage wise completion certificates etc are furnished well in time to ensure smooth sail of the entire process.
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