Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that in view of the escalating situation on the Indo-Pak border, the entire state administration has been fully geared up to face any unforeseen eventuality arising out of the prevailing circumstances.This was disclosed by Mr. Badal while addressing the media here at Punjab Bhawan this evening immediately after a specially convened Cabinet meeting to take stock of the prevalent situation in this regard.
The Chief Minister further said that the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India had already directed the Punjab Government to evacuate Civilian population from villages falling within 10 Kilometers from the International Border in six districts namely Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarntaran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. It was informed that there was possibility of escalation of hostilities on the International Border on account of surgical strikes by the Indian Army which requires measures to safeguard civilian population along the border in Punjab.
Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary Home and Director General Law and Order were camping at Amritsar to oversee the evacuation operations in all the border districts. The state government had already deputed six senior IAS officers one each in border district to coordinate and oversee the evacuation operations. As per orders, Mr. R Venkatratnam has been deputed at Ferozepur, Mr. A Venuprasad at Fazilka, Mr. S R Ladhar at Pathankot, Mr. Vivek Pratap Singh at Gurdaspur, Mr. K S Pannu at Amritsar and Mr. H S Nanda at Tarantaran.Mr. Badal further apprised the media that he had personally spoken to the Ministers and MLAs of these areas telephonically to be present in their areas and extend all necessary assistance to minimize the discomfort of civilian population.As many as 60 villages in Fazilka, 300 in Ferozepur, 135 in Tarantaran, 137 in Amritsar, 290 villages in Gurdaspur and 65 villages in Pathankot have been affected. People were mostly moving to their relatives and friends besides the evacuation camps being set up in schools, community centers, marriage palaces and other premises, added Mr. Badal.
The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister who also held the portfolio as Home Minister were keeping a close watch on the entire situation.The Chief Minister said he had a detailed meeting with the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police in the morning and issued necessary instructions to them to tackle the emergent situation efficaciously.Subsequently, the Chief Secretary had an emergency meeting of the State level Disaster response committee this afternoon which was attended by ACS (Home), ACS (Agriculture), ACS School Education DGP, Principal Secretary Health, Secretary PWD, Secretary Irrigation, Secretary Public Health, DGP (Law and order), IG Intelligence and others. The Committee held a video conference with DCs and SSPs of six border districts besides IGP Border range. A sum of Rupees one crore has been placed at the disposal of every Deputy Commissioner for facilitating smooth and least painful evacuation of the people. It was also informed that health services assistance, drinking water, toilets, food (langar), Security of evacuated houses, fodder and generators etc were being arranged for special camps to be set up for the evacuees.