STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A large number of border migrants are angry with the State government agencies for failing to complete the construction work of bunkers in the forward areas to ensure safety of local residents at the time of hostilities.
The work on these bunkers started way back in January 2016 but in the past 10 months the agencies entrusted with the responsibility failed to complete the job.
Now as the border tension is escalating with every passing day and majority of population is not willing to shift to safer locations, accommodating them inside bunkers and old structures is posing a big challenge.
A random survey conducted by STATE TIMES on Wednesday found that only half of bunkers sanctioned by the Union Home Ministry have been constructed so far. Out of this very few are being put to use, as rest of them were filled with water due to faulty design and were not ready for immediate use.
According to official sources, Rs 3 crore was released by the Union Home Ministry for constructing at least 60 bunkers across five border districts of Jammu region-Jammu, Samba, Kathua along the International Border and Rajouri and Poonch districts along the Line of Control in a phased manner.
10 concrete community type bunkers were sanctioned in existing 6 border blocks (Bishnah, R S Pura, Satwari, Marh, Akhnoor and Khour) on pilot basis within one kilometer from border area.
Out of these 60 bunkers, less than 20 have been completed by the Rural Development Department. There is no trace of bunkers in some of the villages while work on at least 30 such bunkers is going on at a slow pace. When the STATE TIMES team visited some of the border villages, local residents registered their anger and expressed serious concern over their fate. The border residents alleged in the absence of proper facilities at the shelter points the border residents decided to return to their homes and now feeling unsafe as the bunkers in their forward villages were not complete and in areas where bunkers are complete the number of residents is more than the total capacity of the bunkers.
