‘PM gave befitting reply to Pak’
Avtar Bhat
HIRANAGAR, May 13: Giving all credit to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in boosting defence mechanism in the country, Union Minister in PMO with independent charge of Ministries of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Jitendra Singh today announced additional 600 family bunkers and an automated centralised Siren system for the border areas.
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The announcement to this effect was made by the Minister while talking to media persons here, today on the sidelines of the tour of border areas of Hiranagar sector.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the 600 new family bunkers in Kathua district will be in addition to already existing 2000 bunkers.
He said there has been tremendous development in border belt of Kathua since 2014 after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister and the area which was neglected by previous Congress Governments as there were no mobile towers in this entire belt nor was a good network of roads prior to 2014. The mobile towers were installed in last seven to eight years to so that the children and professionals do not suffer disadvantage due to lack of Internet and connectivity, he added. Click here to watch video
Dr Jitendra Singh said besides mobile towers the entire border belt was connected with a good road network and family bunkers were constructed for people so that they can secure themselves after taking shelter in them during shelling from across the border.
Dr Jitendra Singh said during earlier wars of 1965 and 1971 the condition was such in this border belt that people had to construct bunkers themselves to take shelter in the event of shelling from across. But after PM Modi took over he gave special attention or development of border belt and welfare of the people living there.
Dr Jitendra Singh who announced an automated centralised siren system in Kathua district said, it will be controlled from the district Headquarter and whenever required it will start operating spontaneously and siren will be blown out through local outlets at each of the border villages.
Dr Jitendra Singh said “ We thank PM Modi for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan, which has boosted the morale of the countrymen. The morale of the people has also increased because they believe that whatever is seen in the sky gets destroyed before it lands on the ground,’’ he added.
He said after 2014, the PM emphasised on modernisation of technology and stressed on making country self reliant in every sphere.
Dr Jitendra Singh said Pakistan has felt heat of India’s power during Operation Sindoor and not only Pakistan but the world has realised India’s capacity and capability in defence sector.
The Minister said Pakistan was given befitting reply by Indian Defence forces and this can be gauged from the fact that in Pakistan’s National Assembly some members expressed grave resentment against the Government of that country for provoking India. “These members said that Pakistan leadership which even did not dare to take the name of Narendra Modi has unnecessarily provoked India now,’’ he added while quoting these members.
Earlier in a day-long tour of the areas along the International Border (IB), Dr. Jitendra Singh held a series of meetings, including with the district administration led by Deputy Commissioner, Rakesh Minhas, with public representatives including MLAs and DDC members, following which he held an open interaction with the border dwellers.
Pertinent to mention that Kathua was the first in the country to experiment with family bunkers in the border area, when the issue was taken up by Dr. Jitendra Singh as Member of Parliament soon after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014.
As a result, over 2,000 family bunkers have been built for the people living along the border area in the last six to seven years. The utility of these bunkers was realised during the recent Operation Sindoor. The people living in the border areas chose to shift into these bunkers instead of moving to any distant shelters as they found these bunkers more comfortable and also secure. Each of these bunkers is virtually like a small living apartment with all the amenities in place.
In response to public demand to have more such bunkers, Dr. Jitendra Singh consulted the administration and immediately issued directions for construction of 600 additional family bunkers immediately and later, if required, construction of more similar bunkers.
In response to another demand that quite often the information regarding the blackouts was obtained through social media because the siren was not audible enough, Dr. Jitendra Singh issued directions that modern technology should be used instead of manually operated sirens.
In addition, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that soon after the Operation Sindoor was launched, district Kathua was provided with 39 medical ambulances considering the vulnerability of the border dwellers. In addition, two more Critical Care Ambulances were made available in Government Medical College, Kathua, he said.
Dr. Jitendra Singh appreciated the coordinated and joint effort put in by the district administration and civil society in meeting the challenges posed in the face of drone attacks by Pakistan, and he said, this is truly an example of the whole of Government plus whole of society approach.
He noted that one important highlight of the one week of turmoil in the region was that it gave us an opportunity to vindicate that whatever has been done in the last few years was for the benefit of the nation and the people, which includes construction of roads and mobile connectivity along the border areas.
Similarly, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that in the age of technology warfare, Operation Sindoor was also an opportunity for India to prove to the world the kind of superior technology prowess, she had acquired in last one decade. He said, all the equipment including UAS (Unmanned Aerospace System) has been setup only in the last 10 years after Prime Minister, Modi came. Not only this, he said, it is also a vindication of the mantra of Aatmnirbhar Bharat, which Modi gave soon after becoming the Prime Minister, because each of the equipment used during these challenging few days was totally indigenously developed.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, while operation Sindoor has raised the morale of the border dwellers to the new height and given them the confidence that they were totally protected and safe in the technology rich India of Modi, at the same time, the world also has seen a trailer of India’s incredibly rising capacities and prowess.
Among those who participated in public interaction were MLA Vijay Kumar Sharma, Vice Chairman DDC Raghunandan Singh Babloo, DDC Abhinandan Sharma, former OBC Chairman, Rashpal Verma, senior leader, Prem Nath Dogra, Asha Nand, Bakshi, Ravi Kumar and others.
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