Cross-Border Shelling: Jammu and Kashmir Government Directs Officials to Prepare Contingency Plan

Jammu, May 23: The Jammu and Kashmir government today directed the civil and police officials to prepare a comprehensive contingency plan to deal with any eventuality arising out of the unabated cross-border firing.

Minister for Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Javed Mustafa Mir and Minister for Public Health Engineering Sham Choudhary passed the directive during a visit to the border villages of R S Pura sector here and Samba district, an official spokesman said.

The ministers asked the officials not to leave the area without informing their higher-ups, the spokesman added. The ministers, who met the affected families, including the relatives of those killed in the shelling, also asked the health and veterinary authorities to set up mobile units to provide prompt patient care to the border residents and the livestock, the spokesman said.

The ministers enquired about the problems being faced by the border residents in the wake of the continuous shelling from across the border, he added.

The people highlighted their grievances and demanded tents and identification of safer places for shelter. Jammu Divisional Commissioner Hemant Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Rajeev Ranjan and other senior officers accompanied the ministers during their visit.

Later, Mir visited the relief camps set up by the Samba administration to accommodate the border residents displaced due to the cross-border firing and shelling. The minister visited the camps at Chichi Mata and 17th mile.