DC Kathua takes stock of border residents’ grievances

Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Oct 7: On his first visit to border area after joining as Deputy Commissioner, Om Parkash today held a detailed meeting with officers of BSF, J&K Police, Border Welfare Committee and civil society members in Hiranagar’s border areas to discuss various issues and to find comprehensive solution to the woes of border dwellers.
The DC inspected progress on the individual community bunkers and directed the executing agency PWD(R&B) to complete the work of remaining bunkers and resolve the issues with locals pertaining to construction of bunkers, if any, at the earliest.
He further directed the R&B Executive Engineer to personally monitor the progress of construction of bunkers and set weekly/monthly targets to expedite the pace of work.
Several deputations from border villages viz. Bobiya, Manyari, Pansar and Chan Khatrian met the Deputy Commissioner and apprised him of problems faced by them which were mainly related to basic amenities such as power supply, drinking water, road connectivity and filling of vacant posts of medic and paramedic staff in Hiranagar area.
After giving patient hearing, the DC assured them that their genuine demands will be resolved in a phased manner and asked the officers of the District and Tehsil administration to address the issues at grass root level and assert themselves in resolving local issues of public importance as the issues of border area are critical in nature.
He also impressed upon the officers to show keen interest in ensuring quality of developmental works in rural pockets and in the areas near border.
Earlier, the DC paid homage to martyr Surinder Kumar Sharma in Upper Garniari village and interacted with his family members.
The DC said that society will never forget the sacrifices of brave souls in the service of nation and it will always look after the welfare of families of martyrs.
Among others present were IG BSF Jammu, N S Jamwal, ADC kathua, Ghanshyam Singh, Executive Engineer PWD, U K Sharma, Tehsildar, BDO and other district and sectoral officers were accompanying the DC during the visit.