Govt plans all-weather fencing along LoC
After having spent huge money, the Union Home Ministry has called experts again to look at option of having all-weather fencing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to check infiltration.
Union Home Secretary R K Singh will soon meet representatives from the IIT, Central Public Works Department, National Buildings Construction Corporation and Army’s Engineering Corps to ascertain the feasibility of having fencing that can endure heavy snow falls and avalanches.
If the outcome of the high-level meeting throws up a feasible solution to the vexed fencing issue, the ministry will subsequently prepare a note seeking approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security, which is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Of the more than 2,000 km Indo-Pak border, 740 km is stretched along the LoC in J&K. Due to heavy snow, 83 km of the barbed wiring was uprooted, making it convenient for the terrorists to cross over when summer approaches.
Sources said that pillars of the world’s second highest Gandola cable car in Gulmarg, Kashmir, can withstand extreme weather. The engineering used for making cable car structure can be replicated for erecting pillars between fencing along the LoC.
To come up with a permanent solution, the ministry wants to have a holistic view, as they have decided to seek the help of Indian Meteorological Department to find out vulnerable weather points along the fencing stretch.
The ministry through the help of other security stake holders has mapped about 40 traditional infiltration routes that need to be insulated to check terrorists slipping into this side of the border. A double parallel row of fencing guards the border with a wire mesh, which is electrified and connected to a network of motion sensors, thermal imaging devices, lighting systems and alarms.
