Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 12: In what could be termed as non-serious approach towards the safety of border dwellers, the State Government is sleeping over the proposal regarding construction of concrete community type bunkers in the border blocks, which was submitted twice during the past nearly one year after getting the designs prepared from the engineers of Army, Border Security Force and Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that keeping in view the frequency of border firing, the Jammu district administration had found it imperative to provide safe structures to the inhabitants of border villages by way of constructing concrete bunkers.
Accordingly, a proposal for construction of concrete bunkers was submitted to the Government by the Deputy Commissioner Jammu vide communiqué No. DDCJ/ CPO/13/14258-59 dated November 22, 2013. This proposal was based on the type design obtained from the Army.
However, this proposal was again discussed with the engineers of BSF, CPWD, PWD and REW and a revised drawing was prepared for more feasible and economical concrete community type bunkers. In the revised design, provision was made for basic facilities like toilets and inverters, sources informed. The expenditure for this community type bunker having capacity to accommodate 20 individuals (separate partition for male and female and toilet units) was worked out at Rs 5 lakh per unit.
This proposal was mooted to avoid shifting of villagers from forward areas to the safer places and providing all types of facilities like transportation, shelter, food, health care, electricity, drinking water and sanitation in temporary shelters in case of cross border firing, they said. The construction of concrete community type bunkers was economical also keeping in view huge expenditure involved in running temporary shelters for the affected population.
This can be gauged from the fact that for running temporary shelters in nine Government buildings and community halls in R S Pura and Bishnah blocks in the month of August this year following shelling from across the border, the Jammu district administration had to make an expenditure of Rs 85 lakh. This amount was expended as transport charges, hiring charges of vehicles deployed for shifting of affected families to shelter homes, for providing ground sheets/beddings, medicines, food and other related items to the affected population.
In response to a question, sources said that it was suggested in the proposal that bunkers should be constructed in phased manner for the people residing within a distance of five kilometers from the International Border. “The Jammu district administration even furnished the number of persons residing within one kilometer of border and between one to five kilometer radius”, they added.
In the first instance, the Jammu district administration proposed construction of 10 concrete community type bunkers each in existing 6 border blocks (Bishnah, R S Pura, Satwari, Marh, Akhnoor and Khour) on pilot basis within one kilometer from border only so that whenever any emergency arises due to firing and shelling, same could be put to use for providing safe habitat to the population in border areas, sources said while disclosing that financial implication vis-à-vis 10 concrete community type bunkers in six border blocks was worked out at Rs 3 crore.
However, nothing has been heard about any progress on the proposals submitted by the Jammu district administration twice during the past one year despite the fact that Jammu district administration had carried out detailed exercise in getting the proposals prepared, sources regretted.
When asked, sources said that preference has been given to the concrete bunkers in the proposals as compared to steel bunkers in view of various factors.
“Concrete bunkers have many advantages like long life, adequate structural strength, no requirement of any fabrication work, maintains temperature inside shelters during summer as compared to steel structure and easy to incorporate any renovations at later stage”, sources informed.
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