For more than two years in the past, army authorities in J&K were worried about the difficulty posed by State Government’s refusal to extend the lease period of about ten firing ranges in the State beyond 2014. The Army did not like that the jawans should be far away from the State they are on active service. Local fire ranges allowed the jawans to be close to their station of deployment. They quickly rejoined their units and stations of deployment after having completed the training. In an area of active fighting, the army is not happy to let the jawans be away for months at end.
The argument which the State Government put forward in support of its refusal to extend the lease term of the firing ranges was that the population was increasing and people were raising new habitants by occupying lands close to the firing ranges. It said that fire in close proximity of civilian habitats could have adverse impact on the health of the people because firing means enormous sound pollution. This is a cogent point and the army would not want to walk roughshod over it. But now the problem seems to have been resolved partially and maybe it gets resolved fully. The State Government has agreed to handover huge chunk of 4.8 lakh kanals of land at Mangal Thang in Durbuk area, bordering China in Leh district free of cost. The army is happy with such a huge chunk of land being given to it without cost by the State Government.
The Army will now seek three firing ranges one each in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh while allowing the ten FRRs to lapse into the possession of the State Government. Army’s main purpose was that jawans should not be under compulsion to go for training in arms to far off places in the country and remain absent from the field for a long time as that impairs the efficiency of the army fighting the terrorists and seditionists in Kashmir. We highly appreciate the decision of the State Government in placing a huge chunk of land in Leh at the disposal of the army under the lease; process for five years in the first instance with the fair possibility of extending the lease after every five years.
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