Seemingly rattled by assassination of cops-on-leave and harassment of their families, Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to build 20,000 residential flats for policemen in a bid to blunt the threats against the cops in the state.
Nearly 10,000 flats will be constructed in the three districts — Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla of the Kashmir valley. Another 10,000 flats will be built in three districts — Jammu, Udhampur and Kathua of the Jammu division.
The decision was taken by the State Administrative Council (SAC) in a meeting chaired by state Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday. The SAC approved the proposal submitted by the state Home Department for construction of 20,000 flats to be allotted to the police personnel on a self-financing basis.
The decision to construct flats comes against the backdrop of growing terror attacks against the policemen-on-leave as well as on their families. This year around 40 cops were killed in the state, and majority of them were slain when they were on leave — either at their homes or en route to homes.
The last such incident took place on October 28 when Sub-Inspector Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir was killed on his way home near Wahibugh village in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. On September 21, terrorist abducted and brutally killed three cops in Shopian district.
"The construction of these 20,000 houses will be a huge welfare measure for the police personnel. It is pertinent to mention that there are extremely limited housing facilities for J&K police personnel," said an official spokesman.
The objective of the proposal is to create affordable housing facilities for various categories of police personnel. In this way the long pending housing need of the police personnel will be met.
Under the scheme there will be three different categories of flats — 2 BHK (800–1,000 sqft), 3 BHK (1,200 sqft) and 4 BHK (1,500 sqft). "The flats would come up in apartment blocks. The apartment complex will be provided with the required facilities such as parks, playgrounds, shopping areas, etc," the spokesman said.
The flats are to be constructed over a period of two years for which state land will be provided by the government on nominal charges. The flats would be allotted to intending police personnel on self-financing basis.
"The government will facilitate provision of loan from J&K Bank and other banks, if required. A demand survey will be conducted by the DGP to determine the exact demand of flats. This will be completed by December 1, 2018", the spokesman said.
Earlier on August 31, a dangerous situation arose when terrorists raided the homes of serving policemen and abducted 11 of their family members in 24 hours in south Kashmir. Three cops-on-leave, including an inspector rank officer, were killed by the terrorists when they had gone home to celebrate Eid ul-Adha with their families in Kulgam and Pulwama districts on August 23.
Terrorists forced dozens of Special Police Officers (SPOs) to resign after they raided their residences particularly in south Kashmir. Fear stricken SPOs approached local mosques and announced their resignations in order to escape the militants' wrath.
In 2-years Time
The flats are to be constructed over a period of two years for which state land will be provided by the government on nominal charges. The flats would be allotted to intending police personnel on self-financing basis.
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