Jammu: Union Minister and BJP Candidate for Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said people along the International border got Family Bunkers, road network up to zero line, towers, toilets, 4 percent reservation in government jobs and admission to higher education institutions during the last 10 years only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over.
Dr Singh said, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who suggested that the last village on the border should not be referred to as the last village but rather should referred to as “first” village, which would not only give esteem to that area and people living over there but also will be kind of recognition that the territory of India starts from that border village inwards toward the rest of the hinterland.
While participating and addressing a mega youth bike rally organised by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch (BJYM), which covered the entire stretch of the International border covering all the border villages up to zero line before culminating at Kootah, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, before 2014, the people living in the border area constantly felt insecure and lived under constant fear of cross firing from across the border happening at any time. He alleged that the then Congress government and its allies did not pay any heed to their plight even though the people living here constituted the first line of defence in case of foreign aggression.
He said, that with terrorism and insurgency being on the higher side during the UPA rule, it was a common scene to see people getting uprooted from the border areas due to crossfire and then seeking shelter in a Panchayat Ghar or a Government School or in a relative’s house without being certain about where was the possibility of their taking a refuge.
After the Modi government took over, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there was a two-prong strategy. On the one hand, he said, the policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism began to pay dividends and today there is hardly any Pak-sponsored terrorism being discussed as they were discussed before 2014. The other part of the strategy was to create safe and comfortable residing options for the people living here for which for the first time the government headed by Prime Minister Modi took a heroic decision and decided to build a Family Bunker in each household along the border area. Each Family Bunker, he said, is as good as a one-room flat with a living room and other facilities in place.
Youth of this area, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, were quite aspirational but they were discriminated by the Congress government which gave 4 percent reservation along LoC but not here along the International Border. As a result of this, the huge slot of job opportunities for the youth was shut down. They were denied 4 percent reservation for jobs and admission to higher education institutions which the Congress leaders had laid for LoC, which was delivered to the youth living along LoC but denied to youths living on International border for political consideration.
It was the Congress government that cancelled the Dogra Certificate, depriving the Marshal Race youth of this belt of getting recruited in the Forces.
As far border area is concerned, Dr Singh said, for the last nearly seven decades, the then governments of Congress and its ally parties deliberately neglected this region, because it was the land of Pandit Prem Nath Dogra known for patriotism and nationalism its people who had traditionally stood in support of Bharatiya Jan Sangh and later Bharatiya Janata Party.
Dr Singh recalled that only last December, he had laid the foundation of four important road projects and inaugurated nine roads in the Hiranagar sector. The four road projects of more than 25 Km are at a cost of Rs.2594 Lakh Crore, while the nine roads measuring 73.57 km area for 546.8 Lakh Crore.
With the construction of these roads, 74 habitations and more than 11,000 people in the border region will benefit. Dr Jitendra Singh informed that 60-65 percent of PMGSY road projects allotted this year to J&K at a cost of over Rs 3,700 crore belong to his Lok Sabha Parliamentary constituency. He said that several far-flung areas have been connected with all-weather roads for the benefit of people living in these locations. Work is underway in full swing to complete the remaining projects, he said.
