Over 23k bunkers being built along International Border in J-K’s Kathua: minister

The bunkers are for safeguarding the lives of border-dwellers during cross-border firing.

Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh on Sunday said over 23,000 individual and community bunkers would be constructed near the International Border in the Hiranagar sector in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir for protection of people from cross-border firing.

BSF soldiers standing guard during a night patrol near the fence at the India-Pakistan International Border at the outpost of Akhnoor sector, about 40 km from Jammu. (HT File Photo)

“A total of 19,000 individual bunkers and 4,700 community bunkers will be constructed in Hiranagar near IB to safeguard the lives of border-dwellers and their livestock during cross-border firing (by Pakistan),” Singh said, addressing a function in Kathua district.

He said development projects by the central government were limited not only to urban areas but rural population is also getting its due share.

The ‘border area toilets’ project, the work on which was started in collaboration with ‘Sulabh Shauchalaya’ along the IB in Hiranagar tehsil, is a path-breaking initiative to accomplish the task through voluntary involvement of various stakeholders, the MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Earlier, Singh laid the foundation for improvement and upgradation of 14.70 km Samba-Kathua road under the Central Road Fund at a cost of Rs 15 crore at Saktey Chak village.

Singh said Shahpur-Kandi and Ujh multipurpose project would prove to be game changers in de-stressing the water- stressed areas of Kathua and Samba districts.

“Kathua is bestowed with ample natural resources and it has the potential to become an industrial hub like Surat in Gujarat,” he said.