Dr Jitendra announces additional Family Bunkers, automated Siren system for border area
May 13, 2025
HIRANAGAR: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh today announced additional 600 Family Bunkers besides the existing over 2,000 and an automated centralised Siren system for the border area.
In a day-long tour of the areas along the International Border (IB), Dr. Jitendra Singh held a series of meetings, including with the District administration led by Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas, with public representatives including MLAs and DDC Members, following which he held an open interaction with the border dwellers.
Pertinent to mention that Kathua was the first in the country to experiment with family bunkers in the border area , when the issue was taken up by Dr. Jitendra Singh as Member of Parliament soon after Shri Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister.
As a result, over 2,000 Family bunkers have been built for the people living along the border area in the last 6 to 7 years. The utility of these bunkers was realised during the recent Operation Sindoor. The people living in the border areas chose to shift into these bunkers instead of moving to any distant shelters as they found these Bunkers more comfortable and also secure. Each of these bunkers is virtually like a small living apartment with all the amenities in place.
In response to public demand to have more of such bunkers, Dr. Jitendra Singh consulted the administration and immediately issued directions for construction of 600 additional Family bunkers immediately and later on, if required, construction of more similar bunkers.
In response to another demand that quite often the information regarding the blackouts was obtained through social media because the siren was not audible enough, Dr. Jitendra Singh issued directions that modern technology should be used instead of manually operated sirens. For this purpose, he said, an automated centralised siren system will be installed which will be controlled from the District Headquarter and whenever required, it will start operating spontaneously and Siren will be blown out through local outlets at each of the border villages.
In addition, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that soon after the Operation Sindoor was launched, district Kathua was provided with 39 medical ambulances considering the vulnerability of the border dwellers. In addition, 02 more Critical Care Ambulances were made available in Government Medical College, Kathua, he said.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, all this has been possible because the border villages which had remained totally neglected over the years, were given highest priority by Prime Minister Sh Narendra Modi. It was during the last 10 years, he said, that high quality road network upto the zero line of the International Border, where there were no roads before 2014. Similarly, there were no Mobile Towers in the border villages and the same have also been installed only in the last 7 to 8 years, he added, so that the children and professionals did not suffer disadvantage due to lack of internet or connectivity.
Dr. Jitendra Singh appreciated the coordinated and joint effort put in by the district administration and civil society in meeting the challenges posed in the face of drone attacks by Pakistan, and he said this is truly an example of the whole of government plus whole of society approach.
Dr. Jitendra Singh noted that one important highlight of the one week of turmoil in the region was that it gave us an opportunity to vindicate that whatever has been done in the last few years was for the benefit of the nation and the people, which includes construction of roads and mobile connectivity along the border areas.
Similarly, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that in the age of technology warfare, Operation Sindoor was also an opportunity for India to prove to the world the kind of superior technology prowess, she had acquired in last one decade.
He said, all the equipment including UAS (Unmanned Aerospace System) has been setup only in the last 10 years after Prime Minister Modi came.
Not only this, he said, it is also a vindication of the mantra of Aatmnirbhar Bharat, which Modi gave soon after becoming Prime Minister, because each of the equipment used during these challenging few days was totally indigenously developed.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, while operation Sindoor has raised the morale of the border dwellers to the new height and given them the confidence that they were totally protected and safe in the technology rich India of Modi, at the same time, the world also has seen a trailer of India's incredibly rising capacities and prowess.
Among those who participated in public interaction were MLA Vijay Kumar Sharma, Vice Chairman DDC Raghunandan Singh Babloo, DDC Abhinandan Sharma, former OBC Chairman Rashpal Verma, senior leader Prem Nath Dogra, Asha Nand, Bakshi, Ravi Kumar and others.
