Massive hike in relief for property losses
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 14: In what could be a big relief for border dwellers, the Centre Government has been mulling construction of Government schools, Health Centres and deployment of Critical Care Ambulances in safer zones along with individual and community bunkers to ensure uninterrupted studies and health facilities for the people living within mortar shelling and firing range of Pakistan, both along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC).
The Government also proposed to effect massive increase in compensation for killed and injured cattle and damages caused to property including houses, cattle shed and other structures during ceasefire violations by Pakistan. The Centre had recently increased compensation for next of kin of civilians killed in Pakistan shelling and firing to Rs 5 lakh from present Rs one lakh.
Sources told the Excelsior that the Centre Government was working towards “permanent solution” to the problems faced by the people living close to LoC and IB in five districts of Jammu region including Jammu, Samba and Kathua, which have international boundary with Pakistan and Rajouri and Poonch districts, which shared LoC with Pakistan. Similar facilities were likely to be extended to the people living along LoC in Kashmir even though, the ceasefire violations by Pakistan there have been negligible.
However, according to sources, the Centre seems averse to the demand raised from some of the quarters for allotment of 5 marla plots to the border dwellers in safer zones on the ground that the people living on the borders were of “great strategic help” to security forces and their shifting behind the borders would create a vacuum.
“At the same time, the Centre Government didn’t want the people living within firing range of Pakistan to become ‘soft targets’ and get killed in the shelling and firing. It was in view of this that some major facilities have been proposed for the people, which will keep the people safe at the time of ceasefire violations from Pakistan,” sources said.
In addition to construction of both community and individual bunkers in the safer areas, which would be located at minimum possible distance from present houses of the people but outside shelling and firing range, the Centre Government has now proposed that educational institutions for the border dwellers could also be located in the same safer areas, which would ensure that studies of the children and youth of border areas didn’t suffer due to Pakistani provocations.
“Presently, it has been observed that the administration had to close educational institutions for a long time, and that too quite often, during mortar shelling and firing,” sources said, adding “it was in this context that the Government mulled location of educational institutions also in the safer zones along with community and individual bunkers for the people so that studies of children and youth go on un-interrupted even at the time of shelling and firing”.
The Centre has already decided that it could construct around 4500 individual and community bunkers along IB and LoC, to begin with, in safe and secure zones for the border dwellers.
At the same time, the Government has decided that it would locate all Health Centre outside firing and shelling range and deploy Critical Care Ambulances at some major points to see to it that Pakistani shelling and firing victims don’t suffer for want of treatment during ceasefire violations.
The Centre proposed drastic increase in compensation for cattle killed and injured and houses and other structures damaged during Pakistan shelling and firing, sources said, adding that the increase could be quite significant as present relief was very meager and people have been protesting against this.
Sources said the Centre might refer to the State Government the demand of people living along International Border for reservations to them in Government jobs and professional colleges etc at par with the people of LoC.
It may be mentioned here that a high-level Study Group of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had recently visited border areas of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts and inter-acted with border dwellers to ascertain their problems. The Group was not expected to visit Kashmir and Ladakh before finalizing their recommendations.
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