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| Instead of bunkers border villagers be settled in safer areas | | | Neither the Government of India nor the state Government has been able to redress the grievances and difficulties of the border villagers who have been exposed to mortar shells during the frequent ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops. Not only troops from across the border resort to ceasefire violations on the LoC but on the IB in Jammu sector which has resulted in mass migration in the recent months. During the 1999 migration from the border villages the previous Government had asked the previous state Government to identify and acquire land at safer places where these border dwellers could be settled. But neither the previous central Government nor the previous state Government accorded any priority on the issue. And since 1999 whenever Pakistani forces resort to frequent ceasefire violations the villagers living in border villages kissing Pakistan suffer ordeals. And this seems to have left several thousand border villagers, living from Akhnoor to Kathua, including Samba and R.S. Pura high and dry.
Annoyed over the "casual approach" being adopted by the successive state governments to ensure their security, border dwellers have threatened to encroach on palatial official bungalows of ministers and legislators to "make them realise how it feels to be displaced amid scorching heat". Border inhabitants have also warned mass migration with their cattle and belongings from their respective villages to Jammu to "awake the ruling elites from deep slumber" "Our patience is running out. Killing of innocent civilians and extensive damage to property has become a routine affair on the border. Except tall promises, nothing concrete has been done to protect us," rued Raghubir Singh, sarpanch of Changia panchayat that has witnessed unprecedented loss of lives and property in the last four years. All villages falling under this panchayat have experienced bloodshed. "It has become a custom for politicians to visit our areas after every bloodshed and make tall promises. However, after their return, the assurances remain on paper," he said.
And the latest on the ground is the decision of the Government of India to help the state Government in building 50,000 bunkers close to the IB where, during the ceasefire violations, people could stay and save themselves from the mortar shells and bullets. What is dear to the people on the IB is about the fatality of their cattle and the fate of their crops. This is so because various areas on the IB, including R.S. Pura, Suchetgarh are rice producing areas with a potential of exporting Basmati. That Pakistan has decided to honour ceasefire agreement still peace on border can be illusive hence need for settling border villagers That is their worry any damage to standing rice crop could have serious economic impact on the people of the area. Why does not the Government of India implement the old plan of identifying and acquiring land at safer places where the border dwellers could be settled temporarily? Why does the Government of India insist on building bunkers only where the border dwellers could face many problems? Let the Government explore the alternative of settling border villagers temporarily in safer areas. |
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