Protection bund coming up along IB for safety of border farmers in J&K, says IG BSF

 Encouraging border residents to cultivate their land ahead of border fence, a top BSF officer on Thursday said the home ministry has approved a plan for the construction of a protection bund along the International Border for the safety of farmers and it will be completed within next five years.

Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu frontier, D K Boora was speaking at a function organised at Chamliyal village near the zero line in Samba district to hand over a cheque of Rs 3 lakh to a villager who helped in the recovery of a grounded Pakistani drone in January.

Samba Senior Superintendent of Police Vinay Kumar and other prominent people attended the function.

“We want the farmers to tend their land ahead of the border fence as the BSF is there for your protection. We will provide you with all the assistance and if you are concerned that you won’t be able to cultivate your produce, we will not allow such a situation to develop in the first place,” the BSF officer said.

Boora, however, said in case the farmers on the Indian side are not able to reap their produce, the BSF will not allow the other side to cultivate as well.

He said the home ministry has already approved a proposal for the construction of a protection bund along the IB for the safety of the farmers working in their fields ahead of the border fence.

“The protection bund will be completed within the next four to five years, depending on the availability of the funds. After the completion of the protection bund, you can carry out your work easily without any threat (from the enemy),” he said.

Boora said there are rules in place while moving ahead of the border fence and “we need to follow those rules. BSF is deployed on the borders in J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram and all these areas are protected by border fences and the rules are the same everywhere.”

Boora said the Central government has announced many schemes for the development of border villages and the impact of these schemes will be visible on the ground in the next five years.

Highlighting the importance of border residents in safeguarding the country, border security is incomplete without the cooperation of the border population.