Gauba, Mittal brief Dr Jitendra
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 7: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and other top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reviewed construction of bunkers for the border dwellers in five districts of Jammu region and finally allotted the construction work to National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) India Limited overruling the State Government’s contention that it was competent for the constructions.
Official sources told the Excelsior that after high-level review of the construction of bunkers both along International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC), the top MHA officials picked up NBCC India Limited, a Central Government Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) for the construction purposes.
The Union Home Secretary also called NBCC India Limited Chairman AK Mittal in the afternoon and discussed modalities for construction of bunkers in five districts of Jammu region including Jammu, Samba and Kathua on the International Border and Rajouri and Poonch districts on the LoC.
Later, both Gauba and Mittal briefed Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh about the Home Ministry’s decision to finalize NBCC India Limited as executing agency for construction work of 13029 individual and 1431 community bunkers at the cost of Rs 415.73 crore in the five districts in Phase-I.
After getting detailed briefing from the Union Home Secretary and the NBCC India Limited Chairman, Dr Jitendra Singh told the Excelsior that the NBCC would be taking up construction work on the bunkers shortly after completing the requisite formalities.
“We have asked the NBCC to complete all formalities immediately to launch execution work so that the border dwellers are protected from Pakistan’s shelling and firing, which has become a routine,” Dr Jitendra Singh said.
Sources said the NBCC Chairman and team of experts would shortly undertake visit to all five border districts of Jammu region including Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch and identify places, away from the range of shelling and firing, for construction of bunkers.
“Identification of sites for the construction purposes and acquirement of land will be done by the civil administration,” sources pointed out and said the individual bunkers will accommodate one family only while community bunkers would be designed in such a way that they accommodate four to five families.
The bunkers will have cross-ventilation and will be equipped with all facilities like bathrooms and kitchens for prolong stay of the border dwellers in case of continued shelling and firing from across.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved a total of 19,000 individual and 4700 community bunkers for the border dwellers of five districts, who have to face the brunt of Pakistan’s mortar shelling and firing on both International Border and Line of Control, leading to several losses of lives and injuries to many others.
“In the Phase-I, 13029 individual and 1431 community bunkers have been approved for construction purposes while rest will be taken up in the second phase,” sources said, adding the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has directed that all people, whose houses fall within shelling and firing range of Pakistan, both on the International Border and Line of Control, should be allotted the bunkers to protect them from ceasefire violations of the enemy troops.
The State Government, it may be mentioned, had briefed the Union Home Ministry that its agencies were competent enough to undertake construction of both community and individual bunkers. However, sources said, the MHA decided to allot the work to Central Public Sector Undertaking.
It may be mentioned here that district administration in Rajouri and some other places have constructed few bunkers for the border dwellers from the district’s funding. Some people also have small individual bunkers in their houses, both on LoC and IB.
During past 10 months, there has been almost regular shelling by Pakistan army on the LoC in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. In the month of January this year, there was heavy Pakistan shelling on the International Border also in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.
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