SRINAGAR, AUGUST 01: Governor N N Vohra chaired a high-level meeting at Civil Secretariat here today to review the issues relating to safety and welfare of the border residents.
The meeting was attended by B B Vyas, K Vijay Kumar and Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Advisors to the Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; R K Goyal, Principal Secretary, Home and Dr S P Vaid, Director General of Police.
Governor was apprised about the status regarding construction of individual and community bunkers all along the International Border and LoC in Jammu Division.
Governor stressed for timely construction of 12,165 individual and 1,347 community bunkers and was informed that Rs 50 crore have already been released to Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to enable speedy construction.
Governor directed that immediate action must be taken to protect the lives and properties of the border residents. He reviewed the disbursement of compensation to the victims of cross-border firing under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) and Central Schemes for assistance to civilian victims of cross-border firing and was informed that Rs 95 lakh have been disbursed in 19 cases and the remaining 18 cases are under process.
Governor directed for prompt disbursement of compensation for loss of property and livestock to the border residents and was informed that during the current fiscal Rs. 1.17 crore has been disbursed on this account, as per NFRF norms. He directed Home Secretary to nominate Nodal Officers in the Home Department, in the offices of Divisional Commissioners and District Development Commissioners to ensure timely disbursement of relief.
To mitigate the sufferings of the border residents who are forced to migrate due to unprovoked firing from across the border, Governor also reviewed the progress on the construction of Seema Bhavans. As per the proposed project, 95 Border Bhavans are to be constructed in border areas at a cost of Rs 2300 crore. The Border Bhavans would be able to shelter 250 to 1000 people and provide basic amenities like dormitories, community kitchen, toilets, class rooms etc.
While taking note of the unemployment problem in the border areas of the State, Governor directed Home Secretary to expedite the recruitment process for raising two Border Police Battalions. He was informed that one police Battalion each has been sanctioned for Jammu and Kashmir Divisions and that recruitments for the post of Constables has to be made from amongst the youth living in the area along International Border and LoC in the State and that recruitment of 2000 SPOs from the border belt areas has also been initiated.
The Governor directed for completing the entire recruitment process at the earliest in a transparent manner.
Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Planning, Development & Monitoring Department, Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Public Works (R&B) Department and Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone, Secretary Social Welfare were also present at the meeting
Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, SDS Jamwal, IGP Jammu and Chief Engineer PWD (R&B) Jammu attended the meeting through video-conferencing.
