Ditch-cum-Bundh along international border: Project likely to affect agri land, cause flooding, farmers to Punjab governor

A delegation of the Bann Roko Chardi Kala Sangharsh Morcha, led by Fazilka-based social worker Karan Gilhotra, met Kataria and submitted a memorandum raising concerns over the proposed defence embankment being built by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

The row over the proposed 31-km Ditch-cum-Bund (DCB) project along the India-Pakistan border in Fazilka district reached Punjab Lok Bhavan on Wednesday, with governor Gulab Chand Kataria assuring protesting farmers that their concerns would be re-examined, while maintaining that national security could not be compromised.

A delegation of border area farmers from Fazilka district interacting with Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Tuesday. (HT)

A delegation of the Bann Roko Chardi Kala Sangharsh Morcha, led by Fazilka-based social worker Karan Gilhotra, met Kataria and submitted a memorandum raising concerns over the proposed defence embankment being built by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Kataria assured the delegation that an army technical team would visit the site to assess the project and examine its technical aspects. Its report would be considered before any further action, while the matter would also be reviewed by a technical committee comprising farmers’ representatives, according to the delegation.

Kataria also assured the delegation that he would take up their concerns with Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh, saying that while national security remained paramount, the interests of farmers living along the international border could not be overlooked.

Gilhotra said the delegation was hopeful that the governor’s intervention would help find a solution that addresses the concerns of border farmers while safeguarding the country’s security requirements.