Calls for strict surveillance ahead of Jan 22, 26
*Takes feedback on budget expenditure from officials
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 11: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today held review of security situation and development in Jammu region with top officials of civil and police administration with directions to intensify anti-terror operations in Rajouri and Poonch districts and come down heavily on narcotics trade and narco-terror financing.
A direction has also gone to police and Intelligence agencies for strict surveillance on January 22 and 26, the day of Ram temple consecration at Ayodhya and Republic Day respectively.
In the six hours long meeting from 11 AM to 5 PM at Jammu Convention Centre, Sinha is understood to have taken detailed feedback from all civil, police and Intelligence officers on security situation as well as development works in the region and issued series of directions on eliminating terror threat in Rajouri and Poonch districts and ensuring that terrorism is not revived in any part.
“Besides Rajouri and Poonch districts, there was focus on January 22 and 26 also. The Lieutenant Governor called upon the police and Intelligence agencies to ensure that there is no untoward incident on or before these days of national importance,” the officials said.
He laid focus on human intelligence, anti-terror operations, strengthening Security Grid, curbing terror ecosystem in Rajouri and Poonch and other parts of Jammu and ensuring that the terrorists are not able to revive their network in eight peaceful districts of the region, the officials said.
Rajouri and Poonch witnessed surge in terror attacks last year with 19 Army soldiers attaining martyrdom in four incidents even as 30 terrorists were also killed in the two districts on LoC as well as hinterland. Four soldiers sacrificed their lives in latest ambush at Dera Ki Gali in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district on December 21 followed by killing of three civilians mysteriously.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, LG Manoj Sinha and Army chief Gen Manoj Pande visited the spot while Home Minister Amit Shah too was scheduled to go there on January 9 but his visit was cancelled due to bad weather conditions. Security forces have launched massive operations in Rajouri and Poonch to eliminate the terrorists.
Narcotics and their use in terror financing is also reported to have figured prominently in the meeting, the officials said.
As per the officials, Sinha called upon police to go all out in curbing the drug menace by keeping strict surveillance on drug hotspots, checking smuggling of drugs from across the border and smashing entire ecosystem engaged in the drug cartel.
Some proceeds from the drugs are also used in terror financing.
“The meeting emphasized the need for a comprehensive strategy for crackdown against drug smugglers, drug hotspots and cross border smuggling,” the officials said.
On development front, they said, Manoj Sinha reviewed budget expenditure in the districts and progress on development projects, both under Central and UT sectors and called for meeting the timelines. The Deputy Commissioners also projected some issues pertaining to the development.
An official statement said the Lt Governor also took appraisal of the status of the key infrastructure projects and the steps taken by the district administrations to facilitate industries, saturation of Government schemes, implementation of Holistic Agriculture Development Programme and promotion of tourism.
He directed the district administrations to ensure saturation of schemes in all border villages and to connect youth of all Panchayats to self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
The Lt Governor further instructed the officials to prepare regular outcome reports of Block Diwas, Thana Diwas and other Jan-Abhiyan programmes. Quality disposal of grievances and effective delivery of public services should be the priority of the administration at all levels, he said.
The meeting was attended by Advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) R K Goyal, Finance Secretary, Santosh D Vaidya, Director General of Police (DGP) R R Swain, Additional DGP Jammu Zone Anand Jain, ADG CID Nitish Kumar, DIGs of Jammu Zone including Shakti Pathak, Suleman Choudhary, Sunil Gupta and Dr Haseeb Mughal and all 10 DCs and SSPs of the districts.
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