Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, Aug 9: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), senior leader, and former Minister, Manjit Singh has demanded construction of community bunkers in Kamoor, Kamoor Camp, Kesso, Barota and other villages situated within the firing range of Pakistan on the International Border (IB) in Samba district.
“These villagers are living in unsafe situations because Pakistan often opens cross border fire on the civilian areas putting lives of the innocent people including women and children at risk,” said the former Minister while interacting with the border residents.
A deputation of villagers from Kamoor, Kamoor Camp, Barota, Kesso and other border villages called on the former Minister and JKAP senior leader, Manjit Singh and apprised him about their sufferings.
The former Minister was meeting the people from the villages who expressed serious concern that bunkers have not been constructed in their villages and in some villages, wherever the administration has constructed they are not meeting the requirement.
“Due to the worse condition of bunkers like no electricity, no toilet facility and many of them are filled with groundwater forcing the villagers to prefer to stay in their homes which are unsafe and not able to stand before the shelling of mortars,” said the former Minister.
He appealed to the Government to order construction of community bunkers for the safety of the border villagers along the International Border with all the facilities.
Meanwhile, he demanded that left out villages living within 0-6 km radius of International Border be added in the list of border reservations so that they can get the benefit of reservation.
“The administration should speed up the process of adding the genuine left out villages which deserved to be in the reservation,” he demanded.
Meanwhile, over a dozen people joined Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party before Manjit Singh and they expressed faith in the party agenda to empower the people of Jammu and Kashmir regions without discrimination.