Shah reviews security situation, visits residence of local at IB

Union Home Minister Amit Shah interacting with local residents in Makwal border of Jammu on Sunday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah interacting with local residents in Makwal border of Jammu on Sunday.

Inaugurates IIT, pays obeisance at Digiana Ashram

Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Oct 24: Union Home Minister, Amit Shah who is on three days tour of J&K UT today reviewed the security situation with top brass of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and J&K Administration during his visit to International Border (IB) in Makwal area near Satwari this afternoon.
He was accompanied by Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha, Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, senior BSF and J&K administration officers on the occasion. The Home Minister also inspected the BSF bunkers in the area besides, reviewing the security situation.
He took a complete feedback from the BSF authorities over the situation prevailing on the borders especially after dropping of arms by drones in the area and surfacing of two drones at Airport Station.
He interacted with Jawans of 16 Battalion BSF at Makwal forward area and their Commander also to assess the situation on IB.
He was received by Additional Director General (ADG) of BSF, N S Jamwal who briefed him about the security scenario and BSF domination on the IB in Jammu. Shah was given detailed briefing about the BSF Border domination and its readiness to thwart away any challenge from across the border. The Home Minister also presented some gifts to jawans and interacted with them.
D K Kapoor IG BSF, Jammu Frontier was also present . During the visit the Home Minister was shown various aspects of BSF domination strategies on Jammu International Border.
During the interaction with the troops, Shah said that the dedication of security guards towards the defence of India is truly amazing. He assured the troops that BSF will be given all border related assistance from Government of India. He spent considerable time with the BSF troops at BoP and appreciated their hard work and efforts in safeguarding the border.
“On the behalf of all the countrymen, I salute the bravery of our security forces and express my gratitude”, Shah said in his tweet.
The Union Home Minister said that the Central Government under the leadership of Modi Ji is fully devoted to the welfare of our security forces guarding the country and the care of the families.
“I want to tell everyone that you should protect the country without worry, the Modi Government will take care of your families”, Shah said.
He also interacted with the local residents to ascertain their problems in the forward area and appreciated their role as the second line defence after BSF. The Home Minister as per source informed them that the role of border denizens is in no way less than Army and BSF.
Shah also paid a sudden visit to the residence of a local Rakesh Kumar, son of Chuni Lal at Makwal the last village on IB in the area and had a cup of tea there. He took the contact number of the resident at Makwal Border near here. He shared his own views with them and told them that he can contact him whenever he needed. He was accompanied by Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha also.
Shah told border dwellers that the Modi Government is committed to provide every facility and ensure development till the border.
“As much as a citizen living in the Union Capital has the right to the resources of the country, so is the right of citizens living in the border villages (on the resources of the country)”, he said.
He added that under the leadership of Modi, the Government is committed to provide every facility and ensure development till the border.
ADG Western Command BSF, N S Jamwal said it is a matter of pride for them that the Home Minister visited this BSF Post and interacted with jawans. “He listened our briefing and we informed him about border related issues and he expressed pleasure over border domination”.
Earlier, he inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jammu at Nagrota soon after his arrival from summer capital, Srinagar in the morning.
Shah, accompanied by Union Ministers, Dharmendra Pradhan and Dr Jitendra Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant, Governor, Manoj Sinha, reached Jammu Airport from Srinagar and started his engagements with the inauguration of the new campus of the IIT-Jammu, at Nagrota.
The new campus of IIT-Jammu, built at a cost of Rs 210 crore, has all the facilities like hostel, gymnasium, indoor games, along with higher education for the students.
The Union Home Minister while inaugurating the campus said that Jammu is emerging as a big hub of education in India and he gave all credit for this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who, he said, is very keen towards the development of J&K UT and welfare of its people.
Shah said he has not seen anywhere in the country such a beautiful campus like IIT Jammu. He added with taking over as Union Education Minister by Dharmendra Pradhan a new era of education has started in J&K UT. He said today is the birthday of Pt Prem Nath Dogra a veteran leader of J&K and country and from this day the Government has implemented the New Education Policy.
The Union Home Minister while showing concern for the future of J&K students asked the authorities of IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu and AIIMS Jammu to detail him what benefits these institutions can provide to the students of J&K.
Amit Shah asked the authorities to ensure better technical educational opportunities to J&K children. He advised them to open the Satellite campus in the IIT Jammu so that more and more students can attain training there.
An official of the IIT-Jammu said, “It is a State of the Art Research Centre to cater to students of various disciplines. It is meant for research and development.”.
MP Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency, Jugal Kishore Sharma, senior BJP leader and former MLA Nagrota, Devender Rana were also present during inauguration of IIT Nagrota.
Later, the Home Minister paid obeisance at the Digiana Ashram here and prayed for peace and prosperity of the nation.
Flanked by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha and Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, Shah visited the Gurudwara in the afternoon after addressing a public rally, at Bhagwati Nagar. BJP UT president, Ravinder Raina and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma were also present on the occasion. He was presented a Saropa by Mahant Manjit Singh of the Ashram.
Later, the Union Home Minister met with the wife and brother of deceased teacher Deepak Chand, who was killed by militants in a school in Srinagar.
He expressed heartfelt condolences to the family members of the Deepak Chand and extended all possible support from the Government.
Meanwhile, the Home Minister also met with the delegations of Kashmiri Pandits, Gujjar-Bakarwal & Pahari communities, J&K Chamber of Commerce and other public delegations, and took stock of their concerning issues.