Over 14,000 bunkers to come up for civilians along border

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 6

Amid flare-up along the western border with continued firing from the Pakistani side, the Central government today announced that it had approved the construction of as many as 14,460 bunkers for the civilians living in forward areas along the Indo-Pak border in J&K.

Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Hansraj Ahir said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had approved a proposal for the construction of 14,460 bunkers to mitigate the hardships of the people living along the International Border and the Line of Control due to cross-border firing.

“These include 1,431 large community bunkers and 13,029 individual bunkers in the districts of Samba, Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri. The project is being implemented by the J&K Government,” he said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Pakistani troops have been repetitively violating the ceasefire since the beginning of 2018. At least four BSF personnel were killed in cross-border firing by Pakistan last month.

Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, another junior minister in the MHA Kiren Rijiju said in all, 515 infiltration cases from across the border into J&K had been reported in 2017, in which 75 militants were killed. In 2016, the number of such cases was 454, in which 45 militants were killed, he added.

Rijiju said security forces had taken appropriate measures by strengthening the overall security, including operational grid with enhanced human intelligence and use of technical intelligence grid, at the borders as well as in hinterlands to deal with such insurgency activities.