STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over recurrent incidents of cross border firing by Pakistan, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here on Sunday that while the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre is giving a befitting reply through military and paramilitary forces, the Pakistan firing victims and people living along the borders deserve State Government’s attention and the onus for early and permanent redressal of their problems will lie, to a great extent, on the new State Government that takes over in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh recalled that there are a number of pending issues which had been, from time to time, brought to the notice of the earlier State Governments but these were never treated on priority. These include, for example, construction of permanent shelter homes for people getting uprooted from the area following the firing, allotment of land measuring at least five Marlas for such provision, building of bunkers in the household premises of border inhabitants for immediate shelter in case of sudden firing and adequate compensation in lieu of the land of farmers acquired for defence use. “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is committed to address all these issues in right earnest and whatever be the composition of the democratic government which takes over in the State, the BJP Legislature Party as well as the organisation will aggressively pursue for implementation of all these measures”, he added.
Lauding the people living along the borders as true custodians of our boundaries, Singh said, while military and paramilitary forces are doing a commendable job in defending the territory, civilians living in these areas are 24×7 soldiers, all the 365 days in the year constantly guarding the borders unintimidate by the risk to life or property.
Singh disclosed that even though the successive State Governments had failed to provide sufficient and respectable compensation to the victims of firing, the Union Home Ministry has decided to enhance the amount of compensation both for the deceased as well as the injured.
Singh lamented that earlier State Governments had deliberately ignored the grievances of the border area people because their approach was motivated by regional discrimination but now with sizeable presence of BJP in the State Legislature, such an inhuman approach will not be tolerated, particularly with regard to people who have been for the last three generations putting their lives at stake in the service of Mother India without any consideration of caste, creed or religion.
While the powers-that-be in Islamabad have already got the unambiguous message that there is a change in the dispensation in New Delhi which is not going to tolerate any mischief on the borders, the enemy within or the supporters of Pakistan sponsored aggression should also understand it, once and for all, that hapless border area people will no longer be allowed to be taken for granted, he added.