Excelsior Correspondent
REASI, Dec 28: Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Village Defence Guard (VDG) Cell organized a meeting at its district office here today, which was attended by hundreds of party activists associated with the Cell. In the meeting, newly constituted Mandal teams of VDG were introduced with public.
The meeting was attended by Arvind Gupta, secretary J&K BJP and Prabhari Reasi district, along with Reasi district president Rohit Dubey, VDG Cell State in charge Basant Raj Thakur and other local leaders.
Arvind Gupta, while addressing the meeting, said that Village Defence Committees (VDGs), earlier called Village Defence Committees (VDCs) have a history of splendid work in hilly and far flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
The VDCs established in 1994-95 with the active role of BJP, had the task to protect the people in their areas from the terrorist attacks. They were well aware of the topography and terrain of their areas and proved of great help to the police and other security forces in tracking the terrorists and eliminating them. He said that these VDGs deserve real appreciation for their sacrifices for safeguarding the innocent people and restoring faith of the population.
Rohit Dubey, in his address, said that the VDGs in the entire Reasi district are continuing to discharge their duties in a very effective manner. He also raised the issue of non-payment of the emoluments to some VDGs.
Basant Raj Thakur, spoke in detail about the long journey of VDGs and said that in almost 25 years, the VDGs played an important role in inducing a sense of security among the minorities, who would have, otherwise migrated due to the terrorist threats. Mandal level VDG convenors were also nominated in the meeting.
VDG State co-in charge, Harinder Singh, district vice-president and office in charge, Pawan Dev Singh, district general secretary, Romel Thakur, senior leader, Tej Singh, were prominent among those addressed the meeting.