796 New Family Bunkers Built in Kathua District, Says Jitendra Singh
Over 796 new family bunkers have been constructed in Kathua, enhancing safety for residents near the India-Pakistan border.
Kathua, November 11 (Daily Kiran) : The Union Minister of State and Member of Parliament from the Kathua-Udhampur constituency, Dr. Jitendra Singh, announced on November 11 that 796 new family bunkers have been completed in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district. This addition comes on top of more than 2,000 existing bunkers in the area, aimed at providing safety for residents living close to the India-Pakistan international border.
Dr. Singh shared the news on the social media platform X, highlighting the government’s commitment to ensuring a secure and dignified life for those in border regions. Since 2018, over 2,000 family bunkers have been constructed, reflecting the central government’s ongoing efforts under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
To date, more than 9,500 individual and community bunkers have been built along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, addressing the safety concerns arising from cross-border shelling. The government has focused on constructing bunkers in sensitive areas, including Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, and parts of North Kashmir such as Baramulla and Kupwara.
In response to rising tensions in recent years, the government has shifted its focus from large community bunkers to individual family bunkers. The newly constructed bunkers in Hiranagar are part of this strategy, with plans for over 500 additional bunkers in the Uri area of Baramulla district.
Local residents prefer these individual bunkers as they offer immediate access during shelling incidents. Many families also utilize these bunkers for domestic needs during peacetime.
The bunker construction initiative is a government-funded program under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) framework, designed to protect citizens living along the 221-kilometer international border and the 744-kilometer Line of Control.
In 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs approved the construction of 14,460 bunkers across five districts in the Jammu region, including Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. This plan included 13,029 individual and 1,431 community bunkers, with a total estimated cost of ₹415.73 crore.
So far, approximately 9,500 bunkers have been completed in Jammu and Kashmir, with around 8,000 located in the Jammu region. Rajouri has the highest number of bunkers, with over 2,600, followed by Samba (more than 1,560), Kathua (over 1,500), Jammu (more than 1,160), and Poonch (around 920).
