Set up village volunteer force in Punjab to check terror:Bajwa

Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa today suggested creation of a volunteers' force comprising youth from villages along the international border in Punjab to provide a second line of defence to check terror activities.
Raising the issue of terror attacks including at the Pathankot Air Base in the Rajya Sabha, Bajwa said the strech of NH-44 falling in Punjab has come to be known as a "highway of terror".
He suggested that village volunteer force comprising youths from the villages in Punjab along the international border with Pakistan should be created to provide a second line of defence against cross border infliteration of terrorists.

There are about 1,000 villages along the border with Pakistan in Punjab (Pathankot to Fazilka) having a population of 250-500 per village.
"My suggestion to Government of India (is that) we must create a village volunteer force from Zero Line to 5 kms of the border," he said during the Zero Hour.
Bajwa said able-bodied persons in the age group of 18-40 years from these villages could be provided training by the Border Security Force or the army.

"We can train the youth and provide them weapons.... About 25-30,000 youth can act as second line of defence behind army and BSF," he said.

He also suggested that the obsolete armoury of the first and second World Wars lying in the state could be put to use through the village volunteer force.
The volunteers, he suggested, could be provided with an honorarium of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 and said that the Centre should take the border with Pakistan very seriously.