Srinagar: Apni Party senior leader and district president Kupwara Raja Manzoor and provincial secretary Javid Ahmad Mirchal on Thursday expressed deep concern over the plight of border residents of Karnah-Kupwara who have suffered immense damages due to yesterday’s border shelling.
In a statement issued here, the two leaders said that border shelling that occurred in the intervening hours of 30th and 31st December, 2020, caused huge damages to five houses in village Saidhpora and one mosque in Dani village of Karnah.
“The shelling not only smashed the properties but also created fear among the inhabitants of these villages who feared for their lives in absence of concrete bunkers,” Apni Party leaders remarked.
They demanded concrete underground bunkers in the border areas of the district which has been assured by the successive governments in J&K and at the Centre.
“Despite the repeated assurances being made on this issue, the government has failed to construct community bunker houses in the area. And wherever these bunkers have been constructed at some 70 places no payment has been released in favour of the concerned contractors as on date,” they observed.
They demanded that the government should construct individual shelter houses on a war footing basis for the inhabitants residing in the areas like Karanah, Keran, Jumgand, Machhil, Nowpora, Uri, Gurez, Poonch and Rajouri.
They also expressed solidarity with the families whose houses were damaged because of fresh shelling and urged the administration to provide ex gratia relief to the affected families.
They said that the families who are unsafe in these areas should be relocated to safer locations till the concrete bunkers are constructed for them.
