Thousands of bunkers planned to protect civilians in J&K from Pakistani shelling

Representational image courtesy Pixabay

New Delhi: The Centre has given the green signal for the construction of 14, 460 bunkers at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore to shield civilians in Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistani shelling.

Pakistan has repeatedly violated ceasefire in the state and in 2018 alone, there have been over 650 such instances of firing or shelling from across the LoC. While the Indian Army ensures a befitting reply is given each time, civilians have borne the brunt of the collateral damage. It is because of this that the state-owned NBCC has been given the go-ahead to construct protective bunkers. "NBCC has received sanction from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, for the Construction of 14,460 bunkers in villages along the Indo-Pak Border in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) amounting Rs 415.73 crore (approx)," the company said in a BSE filing, according to news agency PTI.

It is expected that the number of civilian casualties can be brought down significantly by constructing bunkers - an urgent requirement considering the figures of 2017. According to some non-governmental reports, over 55 civilian deaths - either due to cross-border terrorism or cross-border shelling - occurred in J&K in 2017 alone.

Construction of bunkers to protect civilians then can help in reducing tragic deaths.