Jammu, May 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday chaired a high-level security meeting to review preparations for the Amarnath Yatra, at Raj Bhawan in Jammu, with a singular focus on a ìfool-proof security gridî to tackle all challenges in the evolving situation.
“Chaired a review meeting for the Amarnath pilgrimage and evaluated the security arrangements and preparedness meant for the pilgrims. Instructed to maintain the utmost vigilance and ensure the seamless completion of the sacred journey,” Shah, himself, posted on X following the meeting, late Thursday evening.
Central government and J&K administration will leave no stone unturned to facilitate the pilgrims with all necessary facilities, he asserted.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha; Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan; Intelligence Bureau chief Tapan Kumar Deka; Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi; Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Pratik Sharma; DG BSF Daljit Singh Chaudhary; DGP Nalin Prabhat besides other senior officers of the Army, CRPF, BSF, NIA, intelligence agencies participated in the meeting.
Besides security arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra beginning on July 3, the agenda included deliberations around anti-terrorist operations, anti-infiltration measures amid anticipated heightened activities by Pakistan to avenge ëOperation Sindoorí, and a follow-up of the instructions given during his last visit to J&K.
An impregnable security grid leaving no scope for the perpetrators to strike at will and target innocent civilians; ensuring an atmosphere free of terror and event-free Amarnath Yatra formed the priority list to be deliberated.
Earlier, the Union Home Minister arrived here in the winter capital amid heightened security at around 7:30 pm for a two-day visit to the region, post ëOperation Sindoor.í
He was received at the Technical Airport by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
LG Sinha, later, shared this info on ëXí also along with pictures of receiving him (HM) at the airport and felicitating him at Raj Bhawan with a big portrait of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.
Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh; Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary; Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo; Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat; Commissioner Secretary Home Chandraker Bharti; Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar; Inspector General Police (IGP) Jammu Bhim Sen Tuti and Deputy Commissioner Jammu too joined the LG at the airport to receive Shah.
J&K BJP president Sat Sharma; Leader of Opposition in J&K Sunil Sharma; MP Jugal Kishore Sharma; former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh, Kavinder Gupta; Chowdhary Sukhnandan; MLAs Chander Prakash Ganga, Surjit Singh Slathia; Sham Lal Sharma, Narinder Singh Raina besides other senior leaders too were there at the airport to welcome him.
Party sources pointed out that before the high-level security review meeting, a three-member delegation of the J&K Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comprising Sat Sharma, the Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, and J&K BJP general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul also had a brief meeting with the Home Minister regarding the recommendations of the party MLAs’ team for Pak shelling victims. Their recommendations pertained to a job to NoK of those killed in Pak shelling (already announced by LG Sinha); a special package for the construction of damaged structures – moving beyond SDRF norms and the construction of more bunkers.
However, Sat Sharma, when contacted by Greater Kashmir on this account, stated, “We had gone to receive the Union Home Minister at the airport. As such he (Home Minister) had no scheduled meeting with the party leaders. His main agenda is the security review meeting.”
After a night stay at Raj Bhawan, Jammu, the Union Home Minister will leave for Poonch at 10 am on May 30 to be with the shelling victims and also take first-hand assessment of damages there and plans to mitigate sufferings of shelling affected people. The Union Home Minister is also scheduled to address the BSF soldiers at their unit headquarters at Khanetar.
He may likely announce a special package for the shelling affected. Shah is likely to return from Poonch at around 3 pm to Jammu from where he will fly back to the union capital.
Border district Poonch bore the maximum brunt of Pakistan shelling across J&K, both in terms of civilian casualties as well as damages to properties. 13 persons lost their lives while around 700 houses were damaged in Poonch.
On May 26, the Leader of the Opposition in the J&K Legislative Assembly and the former minister Sunil Sharma, while addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters in Jammu announced that the Central government in principle agreed to a special package for the reconstruction of 1500-2000 houses and other structures damaged in Pak shelling through Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs) to the affected people.
Notably J&K BJP 5-member committee was constituted by the central party leadership to assess damages in Pak shelling.
The committee had recommended the Government of India grant a special package encompassing a suitable amount, moving beyond existing (SDRF) norms, to enable them (people) to reconstruct their damaged houses, numbering between 1500-2000 across J&K. The BJP committee, comprising 5 MLAs, has already submitted its report comprising three key demands to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Sharma said.
According to him, the committee recommendations included immediate construction of more bunkers (both individual and community) to ensure civilian safety; government jobs for families which lost a member due to shelling and increased compensation for damaged homes beyond the existing limit of Rs 1.2 lakh under SDRF norms. The committee also recommended the disbursal through Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs) to ensure efficient and immediate disbursal of aid.
This is Shah’s maiden visit to J&K after ‘Operation Sindoor.’ He had visited Kashmir on April 22 in the aftermath of the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack, the same evening. 26 unarmed civilians, including 25 tourists, were killed.
During his visit, he had met the Pahalgam terror attack victims’ families and had also chaired high-level security review meetings.
