Days before Indian missiles pounded 8 locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), border residents in Jammu and Kashmir began sweeping and cleaning the bomb shelter.
As the spectre of war darkened the skies with the Indian government repeatedly vowing to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 25 tourists and a local pony operator dead, people living along the border prepared the underground shelters.
However, the lack of adequate number of bomb shelters in the border areas has left residents dangerously exposed during the hours-long shelling by the Pakistani army, forcing many to flee their homes in search of safety.
“There are only 6 to 8 community bunkers in our village and they at highest could accommodate only 200 to 240 people,” said Lal Din, a resident of Uri sector’s Churanda village. He claimed that some bunkers were without water and washrooms.
According to Lal Din, the village, located close to zero line, has a population of 1,500 to 1,600 people and the number of bunkers is too low to house the entire population.
“People are forced to either flee their homes or accept the situation as a fait accompli”, he said.
At few locations
Official data reveals that 44 underground bunkers were constructed by the government in the Uri sector, while local residents built 22, and the Indian Army constructed 3 under the ‘Sadbhavana’ scheme to shield people from the cross-border shelling.
According to local residents, the bunkers were built at only a few designated locations, leaving many villages without such protective shelters. Villages like Gharkote, Kamal Kote, the main town of Uri, and Salamabad remain bereft of any bomb shelters.
“These are low-lying villages, making them particularly susceptible to severe damage from cross-border shelling, which often comes from higher mountainous areas,” said a resident.
Naveed Bukhtiyar, an advocate and social activist from Uri, told businessline that more bunkers and stronger protective measures were urgently needed in areas lacking such shelters.
“We understand that avenging the Pahalgam terror attack is important and in the larger national interest, but the frontline population must be given protective cover through proper arrangements,” he said.
Risks
“In the midst of shelling, people can’t run for half a kilometre to take refuge in a bunker, as there is a real risk of getting hit,” said Zafar Iqbal, another resident of Uri.
He said that due to the low number of bunkers, they were located far within villages.
According to the residents, water also accumulates in some bunkers, which seeps in from the ground below.
Construction of bunkers
In 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department sanctioned 125 bunkers for border villages located within 0 to 3 kilometers of the Line of Control (LoC) in the twin districts of Baramulla and Kupwara, aiming at safeguarding the residents from recurring cross-border shelling.
Of them, 85 have been allocated to Kupwara district — with 10 designated for Keran, 15 for Machil, and 60 for Tangdhar tehsil. In Baramulla district, 20 bunkers each will be constructed in the Uri and Boniyar tehsils. The government allocated ₹25 crore for the project.