LoC villagers allege slow pace of bunkers’ construction

Demand individual, not community bunkers

Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 8: The villagers living closer to the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch are scared of continuous shelling from across the border and alleged slow pace of work on construction of bunkers.
The hapless villagers hailing from Shahpur, Qasba, Degwar and several other areas told the Excelsior that they came to know about the decision of Modi Government to construct community/ individual family bunkers along the border in J&K State but till today, no such bunkers have been constructed in their villages.
They said during Pak shelling they were confined to their houses and unable to move out for hours under the threat of being killed in firing. Their children are unable to go to schools for couple of days. Teachers also do not visit there under such situation. The bunkers will provide them some relief if constructed on war footing.

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One Akbar Hussain from Qasba village said that he had learnt about the sanction of bunkers for the border/ LoC villages but till today not even a single bunker has been constructed at his village. He said the village children can not visit schools during shelling. Any time, shelling is started from that side. The teachers also do not come there for couple of days under terror of Pak guns. He said there should be bunkers within schools, hospitals and houses/ clusters.
One Mir Mohd from Shahpur said in some of the villages it has been learnt that a few bunkers were constructed by the Rural Development agency but in Shahpur area no such construction has been started. He said Pak posts are closer to the village and they keep watch on the activity of villagers. They target the civilians many times. There is urgent need to expedite the construction of bunkers in the area, he said.
Mir Mohd further said that there are two Panchayats at Shahpur and its population is nearly 2000 and they are always under the threat of Pak guns. He said when sudden shelling starts, people are unable to run away and take shelter a safer places. He said the Govt and Administration only comes out if any extensive damage takes place.
Sarpanch Parvinder Singh from Degwar village near LoC in Poonch said that due to Pak shelling at least 7-8 villagers from his area suffered injuries. He said the District Administration claimed to start work on community and individual bunkers but no work has been started on them so far. He said the Modi Govt should monitor these schemes as the pace of work was very slow on them. The District Administration is equally responsible for the delay on this project. He supported individual bunkers instead of community bunkers in the area as people have preferred the same.
Munkeshi Raina from Degwar Manyala also criticized the RDD authority for very slow pace of work on bunkers and said that in her village not even a single bunker has been constructed while the fact remains that shelling takes place quite often in the area. The people have no place to take shelter and protect them from Pak shelling.

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