IN THE wake of stepped up operations by militants, the government has given the go-ahead for electric fencing of 195 km of the international border between Jammu and Sialkot in Pakistan on a crash basis.
This part of the international border was identified as most vulnerable to infiltration by mercenaries along with heavy sabotage equipment, drugs and fake currency. This is the first case of fencing which the government has thought of on the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir.
This stretch of border from Palanwala in the Chamb sector to Madhopur on the Jammu and Kashmir-Punjab border, official sources said, was prone to be most used by Pakistan's ISI for its high voltage infiltration.
Officials said they expect that the Rs 28-crore project, which has been accorded top most priority by the home and defence ministries, was unlikely to have a smooth sailing as Pakistani forces have been very active in the region.
Last year alone, according to figures placed in Parliament, as many as 2,896 firing incidents were reported in the region and in the first two months, 400 incidents were reported indicating that the fencing work would face heavy disruption from across the border.
The government has set a target of three years for the project, which when completed would add up to 1,682 km of electrified international border between Pakistan and India. This includes 1,035 km in Rajasthan and 4 km in Punjab. The authorities left a 132-km-stretch, mostly in Rajasthan, unfenced due to difficult riverine area and shifting sand dunes.
Officials said the government had also approved a comprehensive proposal for construction of fencing and flood lighting on raised embankments, border roads, link roads and border outposts along 310 km of the Rann of Kutch area in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 380 crores.
They said that top priority was being given to the Jammu project keeping in view the recent spate of bomb attacks on trains passing through the Jammu-Pathankot sector.
