Directs immediate financial assistance for victims
Jammu Tawi, Oct 21: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said security forces will avenge the construction workers’ death in the brutal attack in Ganderbal, and “exact a price” that the terrorists will remember for the time to come.
Sinha called for justice to the victims as he blamed Pakistan for “still trying to kill innocent people” in the region to disrupt peace. He also directed officials to provide financial assistance to the families of victims.
Seven persons including a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed while five others sustained injuries in a terror attack at an under-construction tunnel at Gund in Ganderbal district.
In a post on X, Sinha said, “The brutal and savage attack against construction workers will be avenged. I’ve asked the J&K Police, security forces to exact a price that will be remembered by the terrorists and their associates for time to come.”
Addressing a function here earlier in the day, the LG said, “We won’t forget yesterday’s dastardly attack.”
The LG said there was still a threat from the “neighbouring country”. “It is still trying to kill innocent people in this region and to destabilise peace here,” he added at the Police Martyrs’ Day function.
Sinha said there was a need to stop drug smuggling and improve counter-insurgency operations.
The J-K LG said while innocent people should be protected, the guilty should also not be spared.
Paying tributes to those killed in the line of duty, Sinha said their sacrifices will be remembered forever.
Sinha assured the families of security personnel killed on duty that their education, health, insurance cover and other things would be taken care of. “We are with them for their bright future”.
He said people should respect the sacrifices of the forces as no nation can develop if it is not secure. “Whenever any incident happens, police have to bear the brunt. So I request people to respect the sacrifices of our forces and encourage them,” he said.
“We should salute them because forces are neither Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs. For the peace in the region, I request the people of Jammu and Kashmir to equally participate in this growth process,” he added.
Sinha has also asked the company for which the seven deceased persons were working to release the compensation without any delay. Officials of APCO Infratech briefed the LG on the assistance being provided to the family members of the victims, the spokesperson said.
Under the security-related expenditure, Rs 6 lakh is to be given to the next of kin of each deceased civilian and Rs 15 lakh as an immediate measure to be provided by APCO Infratech. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to be provided to all the injured.
APCO Infratech will also provide financial assistance to the families of civilians on roll under Corporate Personal Accident Policy and five years of their gross CTC as compensation from insurance.
Talking to reporters later, Omar said: “Condemnation is a small word for the incident. What will these incidents fetch, nothing. We have seen such things for the past 35 years, nothing happened. They (attackers) want to show that J & K’s atmosphere wasn’t peaceful. Security forces need to maintain and increase the level of alertness so that these incidents don’t re-occur.”
Omar said that the attack on Z-Morh tunnel was seen after a long time. “I remember the militants targeted the IRCON project earlier and after that this (Gagangeer) is the second big attack. I have spoken to DGP and urged him to fill the gaps especially at the sites of big projects. Vested interest have never been in favour of peace in Kashmir. We have condemned them in the past and will continue to do same.”
Meanwhile, the slain in Gagangeer, Ganderbal incident were identified as, Gurmeet Singh of Gurudaspura Punjab, (Labourer), Dr Shahnawaz R/O Naidgam, Budgam, Anil Kumar Shukla, R/O Madiya Pradesh, Manager Mechanical, Faheem Nazir, R/O Bihar, Safety Manager, Shashi Abrol R/O Jammu, Deputy Manager Planning, Mohammad Hanief, R/O Bihar Painter/helper and Kaleem Painter/helper. The injured were identified as Inderwaday (35), R/o Bihar, Labourer, Madan Lal (45), R/O Kathua Jammu, electrician, Muhtaq Ahmad Lone, (25) R/o Preng, Kangan, Mess helper, Ishfat Ahmad Bhat, R/O Safapura, Ganderbal, Driver and Jagtar Singh R/O Kathua Jammu labourer.
