Farmers at the border districts of Jammu must be in quandary over the prevailing security concerns. The government has allowed to harvest their paddy crop which in the state is almost ready to harvest. Harvesting is to take place within the next 10 days if weather does not play truant. Farmers in border areas of Jammu and Punjab have been asked to evacuate in view of apprehension of retaliation from Pakistani side after Indian Army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC). Many villagers in some districts refused to leave their homes saying that they need to tend to their crops, cattle and properties and would not leave. In some other villages, the men folk have stayed back for the same reason. A number of farmers in the border belt have their agricultural land across the barbed wire fence, which was erected in the early 1990s, where they cultivate crops under vigil of the BSF. The barbed wire fencing has been erected 500 metres to one km inside the Indian territory. The evacuation was carried out following an advisory of the Central Government to avoid any sort of major loss to life and property of people. In such situations, the enemy could make any move and could not be trusted. Over 40,000 hectares of paddy and other crops is ready for harvesting and in case the cross-border firing continues for some more days, there will be a huge loss for the farmers at R S Pura. It looks the coming festive season would be no happy occasion for these who live on the edge daily with escalation of tension on the
borders.
