Centre assesses damages due to cross-border shelling in J-K

A five-member team led by a senior home ministry official today visited various border villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district to assess the damages caused by cross-border shelling by Pakistan, officials said.
The team, led by Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry Rina Mitra, comprises Joint Secretary (Internal Security) Gyanesh Kumar and Director (Ministry of Home Affairs) R K Swarankar. It reviewed the problems faced by people living in the border areas, public demands and issues for a broad redressal planning, the officials said.
They said the delegation assessed losses in various villages and held detailed discussions with the people in Jhangar village, which was among the worst hit.

MLA Nowshera Ravinder Raina and MLC Surinder Choudhary along with local public deputations briefed the visiting team about the problems faced by public and demands, they said.
The Special Secretary inspected the recently constructed bunkers in villages Langar and Dnaka.
The officials said the people put forward various demands, including relief in case of natural calamities, crop compensation, special development package, reservation for youth in employment and education, allotment of plots, construction of more bunkers and provision of other essential facilities.

The officials said the visiting team also inspected two damaged schools that were evacuated in July amid intense shelling and visited forward areas to assess the threat perception and circumstances prevailing along the LoC.

Principal Secretary (Home Department) R K Goyal, Divisional Commissioner (Jammu) M K Bhandari and Inspector General of Police (Jammu) S D Singh Jamwal were part of the delegation as representatives of the state government.
Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Deputy Inspector General Deepak Slathia, Senior Superintendent of Police Yougal Manhas and officers of district, sub-divisional administration and police also accompanied the team.
The team visited Samba, RS Pura and Kathua areas of Jammu yesterday.