796 New Bunkers Added To Existing Bunkers For Border Residents In Kathua District: Jitendra Singh

(MENAFN- IANS) Jammu, Nov 11 (IANS) Union Minister and Lok Sabha member from Kathua-Udhampur constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday that new 796 family bunkers have been added to the existing 2,000 bunkers for the residents of the border in Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.

Dr Jitendra Sing said on X today,“In the #Hiranagar sector of district #Kathua, the completion of 796 new family bunkers along the Indo-Pak International Border, in addition to the already existing over 2,000 family bunkers constructed since 2018, reflects government's unwavering commitment and PM Sh @narendramodi's reiteration of ensuring dignified living for the people in the border areas.”

Over 9,500 individual and community underground bunkers have been constructed along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir to protect residents from cross-border shelling.

The government has built roughly 9,500 bunkers across vulnerable sectors like Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, and north Kashmir districts like Baramulla and Kupwara.

Following renewed cross-border tensions, local administrations and the central government have pushed for additional family-specific individual bunkers rather than large community structures, such as the 796 new family bunkers in Kathua's Hiranagar sector, and is planning over 500 new bunkers in Uri in Baramulla district.

Residents increasingly prefer individual family bunkers near homes for faster access during shelling, and many existing structures are also utilised by locals for daily household needs during quiet periods.

The border bunker program in Jammu and Kashmir is a centrally funded initiative managed through the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) framework to protect civilians living along the 221 km International Border (IB) and 744 km Line of Control (LoC) from cross-border shelling.

In 2018, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) approved 14,460 bunkers (13,029 individual and 1,431 community) at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore across five Jammu division districts-Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch.

Roughly 9,500 bunkers have been completed across J&K. In the Jammu division alone, nearly 8,000 structures are finished, led by Rajouri (over 2,600), Samba (over 1,560), Kathua (over 1,500), Jammu (over 1,160), and Poonch (over 920).

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