Persuade Punjab farmers to give up land for border patrolling, govt told

NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on home, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, has asked the government to persuade farmers in Punjab to sacrifice part of their cultivable land on the frontier so that Border Security Force (BSF) can use it for patrolling.
In January 2015, the home ministry had requested the Punjab government to acquire land close to the border fence so that a strip measuring 11 feet in width and running alongside the border could be created for patrolling. Asserting that there should be suitable compensation for farmers, the committee asked the Centre to encourage the Punjab government to "initially declare an attractive rate of compensation to be given to farmers of Punjab in lieu of land to allay apprehensions of farmers with regard to compensation".

The government faces difficulty in acquiring land because of legal and other impediments, which causes delay in execution of border roads, fencing and flood lighting projects and hampers border security.

Government sources said land was required for complete fencing, floodlighting and patrolling on the India-Pakistan border to check infiltration of terrorists, smuggling and other illegal activities.

The parliamentary panel slammed the government for regular infiltration of terrorists from across the border and attacks on camps of Army, police and paramilitary forces.

"The committee observes that despite the construction of 668.66 km long Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) along the LoC and international border by Indian Army and the use of latest equipment to detect and intercept infiltration by terrorists, there has been spurt in infiltration attempts along the LoC from across the border. That is a matter of concern," the report tabled in Parliament on Thursday said.

It added that Pakistan repeatedly made attempts to divert international attention from the internal security situation within its own borders to J&K. "Such attempts of Pakistan have to be countered by the government through diplomatic channels. Moreover, Pakistan's efforts to regulate the inflow of terrorists into J&K and to foment violence in the state need to be combated/checked to eliminate any possibility of terrorist attacks in J&K," it said.

The panel was also critical of the home ministry for not taking enough steps to reduce the hardships faced by jawans who performed their duty in testing conditions. It had last year recommended rationalisation of duty hours and creation of six shifts during a 24-hour cycle, which is yet to be implemented.