Demand for individual bunkers along LoC gathers pace

Ranjit Thakur

Jammu, March 1

With constant rise in the incidents of ceasefire violations and shelling by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC), the demand for constructing individual bunkers for the safety of border dwellers has gained momentum.

On Tuesday, two civilians were injured, when the Pakistan army shelled forward posts and civilian areas in Kirni, Qasba and Shahpura areas along the LoC in Poonch district.

Uprooted from their homes after firing by Pakistan army in Shahpur, the people of border areas living in community bunkers have now demanded that the government construct individual bunkers for the safety of their family.

“Our house has been completely damaged in intensive shelling from Pakistan side and we have travelled several kilometres to reach the community bunker for the safety of our lives, but some of the family members are still behind. We are thankful to Prime Minister Modi for giving us community bunkers. We urged him to construct individual bunkers for every family, so that the safety of people at the time of instant shelling is ensured,” said a local resident of village Shahpur.

“Firing can trigger anytime from Pakistan side. It’s a routine affair and they deliberately target civilian areas to cause more damage. Though government has constructed some bunkers in Shahpur, we want more individual bunkers for our safety,” said another resident from the same village.

In December 2017, the Centre had sanctioned an amount of Rs415.73 crore to the J&K Government for the construction of 14,460 bunkers, including 1,431 community bunkers and 13,029 individual bunkers, in the border areas of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts for border residents facing Pakistani shelling.

Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, Rahul Yadav said: “We are constructing both individual as well as community based bunkers in Poonch. As many as 688 are community bunkers and 700 are individual bunkers. People have been demanding more individual bunkers, so we have sent a proposal of 4,700 individual bunkers for Poonch.”

“We have so far completed around 700 bunkers and are hopeful to complete all 1,300 bunkers by March this year,” he said.

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma had recently directed all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of border districts and executing agencies to expedite the pace of work on the construction of bunkers for their timely completion.