JAMMU: Nearly 10 months after Operation Sindoor, there has been no progress on constructing bunkers in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir that witnessed heavy Pakistani shelling, including Poonch, where at least 18 people were killed.“No stone has been moved in Uri after the operation,” Sajjad Shafi, MLA from the Uri constituency in Baramulla district, told TOI. Shafi said a number of houses were damaged during the shelling, forcing large-scale evacuations. While the evacuations saved lives, assurances about constructing bunkers had not been honoured, the MLA said. “Our topography makes community bunkers difficult to access during intense shelling. Every house should have its own bunker,” he said.Echoing the need for individual bunkers, Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, MLA from Thanamandi in Rajouri, said: “Houses are kilometres apart. No one can step out during shelling to reach a community bunker.”Poonch MLA Ajaz Jan of NC said: “When shelling takes place, the Army is forced to first focus on evacuating civilians and rescuing the injured before responding. Permanent bunkers would strengthen defence and reduce pressure on security forces,” he said. According to officials over 500 bunkers have been sanctioned for Uri by MHA and work on them is expected to begin in April 2026. In Nov 2025, the J&K administration had said a proposal to set up 5,693 bunkers in Poonch had been submitted for approval to MHA.
