NEW DELHI: Aiming to accelerate construction of special security camps for migrant workers in Kashmir, the DG of CRPF, who also happens to be the DG of NIA, flew to the Valley on Monday to review the arrangements.
Sources said the main purpose of his visit, which comes in the wake of a spate in targeted killings of non-locals, is to review the final arrangements made for the proposed security camps, the construction work on which is likely to begin soon.
Highly placed sources said that the DG, Kuldeep Singh, asked agencies to compile data on the number of non-locals in the Valley and the present security arrangements available for them. Singh, who would be camping in the Valley for next few days, would apprise the home ministry about the number of camps that would be required, the timeline in which these camps could be readied and the necessary resources that would be required to build these camps, a top government functionary told this newspaper.
“The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to deploy more CRPF companies in the Valley for the protection of these camps. Orders to this effect may be issued soon,” the official said. Sources said that for the time being, senior security officials were toying with the idea of converting schools that were not in use into temporary shelters for the non-locals. “Details such as the number of non-locals are being compiled along with the security arrangements that have been made for Pandits, Sikhs and non-locals living in Kashmir,” said a senior security official. A similar plan to secure non-locals in Kashmir had been put in place right after the abrogation of Article 370.