CRPF-Secured ‘Hostels' Likely For J&k Panchayat Members

New Delhi: Hostel-type lodging facilities, to be secured by CRPF, are being identified in all districts of Kashmir to accommodate and shield grassroots level people’s representatives and political workers from terrorist threats. The heightened protection comes in the wake of targeting killing of some sarpanches, panchayat members and lower-level political workers, particularly those affiliated with BJP, in the Valley over the past few months.

- Bharti.Jain

Sources in the central security establishment told TOI that all district collectors in the Kashmir region have been asked to identify vacant and available buildings — including hotels, guest houses, hostels and lodges — which will be converted into perimeter-secured facilities and used exclusively for accommodating panchayat heads and members as well as their immediate family members. CRPF will secure these buildings with proper perimeter and access control and 24X7 deployment of its personnel, minimising the potential threat of sudden attacks, abductions and killing that the representatives and their kin face from terrorists at their residences.