'Completed' on Paper, But Missing in Key Border Areas: J&K Authorities Probe Centre-Funded Bunker Project

Srinagar: Authorities are probing allegations of financial irregularities in the centrally-sponsored underground bunker project for the border residents of Jammu and Kashmir which was sanctioned by the Union government in 2018, The Wire has learnt.

The allegations of malpractices in another flagship programme of the Union government have surfaced at a time when at least 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded as Pakistan resorted to arbitrary shelling of border areas. Pakistan appeared to have targeted areas in J&K where some of these underground bunkers were reportedly proposed to be built.

The issue has also put the role of those J&K officials under scanner who allegedly failed to ensure the implementation of a key project designed to protect the lives of civilians living along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) during cross-border shelling.

Speaking with The Wire, Ajaz Jan, member of J&K legislative assembly (Poonch) from the ruling National Conference, said that the chief minister Omar Abdullah has called for a probe into the alleged malpractices.

“It has been five months now but no action has been taken” Jan said, alleging that some bunkers which have been purportedly shown as ‘completed’ on paper do not exist on the ground.

The controversy dates back to 2018 when 14,460 bunkers were sanctioned for border residents in the districts of Samba, Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri of Jammu division at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore, of which 13029 were individual bunkers and 1431 community bunkers.

A resident holds up the remnant of a mortar shell through the hole that it made through his house in Poonch, Jammu. Photo: Nazim Ali Manhas

The public works department of J&K was designated as the nodal agency while the rural development department was roped in to involve the local panchayats in the construction work.

While touring Rajouri, one of the worst-hit districts in the recent Indo-Pak escalation, J&K chief secretary Atal Dulloo said on May 14 that 9,500 bunkers have been built.

Official documents accessed by The Wire show that none of the bunkers were audited till last year when a team was set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs for probing the allegations of irregularities in the project.

The order to audit the bunkers came a year after Ashutosh Khanna, a Jammu-based lawyer, complained to the crime branch of J&K police in 2023 that the project, which was touted to “ease the sufferings” of J&K’s border residents, was marred by financial malpractices and administrative irregularities.

The complaint, registered under No J14003/2023 by the economic offences wing of the crime branch, was later transferred to J&K's Anti-Corruption Bureau under the court intervention.

In his complaint, which draws from official data obtained through the Right to Information Act, Khanna alleged that excess funds were released in various blocks of Rajouri district with some records of claimed purchases missing from official books.

When the police probe did not show any sign of progress, Khanna told The Wire that he approached a local court in Jammu with a plea to direct the senior superintendent of police (SSP) to book the officials of PWD and RDD for corruption.

“In its status reports, the crime branch informed the court that it has sought purchase records from the concerned departments which were voluminous and would take time,” Khanna said, adding that the court directed the SSP crime branch to file ‘action taken report’ after which the case was transferred to J&K's Anti-Corruption Bureau.

“The court sought further investigation by the ACB in the case,” he added.

Expenditure

The complaint by Khanna noted: “Block development officer Sunderbani in RTI reply has mentioned Rs 94,82900 bills were passed for release of payment, where as Treasury officer Sunderbani reply is contradictory to BDO office where under major head 4055 internal security Rs. 1,15,37,645/- has been released which means Rs. 20,54,745/- excess payment has been done. Same is the case with BDO Office Doongi, Qila Darhal, Seri, Panjgrain and Manjakote the information provided by them shows huge fluctuations which is in crores and completely mismatches with the information provided by concerned Treasury officers”.

“If this is the case with one district, there are chances of irregularities in other districts also,” Khanna told The Wire.

Meanwhile, as the ACB probe was underway, the MHA ordered its own audit of the project which is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

A letter by ‘Financial Advisor/CAO’ of J&K’s home department to director general of police and divisional commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir divisions on February 19, 2024, marked as ‘Most Urgent’, noted:

“A considerable amount of expenditure has been disallowed in respect of PHQ (police headquarter) on account of non-production of vouchers. Besides, a good quantum of expenditure has been disallowed on account of being not covered under SRE (security related expenditure) Guidelines.”

The letter directed the officers to “ensure that every single voucher is presented before the Audit Party” and make "sententious efforts” to bridge the gap.

“The Divisional Commissioner Jammu/ Kashmir shall present all the vouchers pertaining to the expenditure incurred under various Heads of SRE including Bunkers before the Audit Party at PHO Jammu/ Srinagar,” the letter said.

In a letter on February 21, 2024, divisional commissioner Jammu directed the deputy commissioners of the five border districts covered under the project to “ensure that every voucher for the period under question is presented before the Audit Party with intimation to this office”.

Dulloo could not be reached for comment on the allegations of financial malpractices in the project.

In a letter to the Rajouri deputy commissioner, a deputy secretary in PWD noted that the information sought by Khanna on the issue of financial mismatch in the record of treasuries has not been provided by his office “despite lapse of considerable time”.

The information “may kindly be furnished within two days positively as the General Administration Department is pressing hard in the matter”, the letter to DC Rajouri on January 3, 2025 states. DC Rajouri could not be reached for comment.

'Bunkers don't exist'

Jan said that many bunkers for which funds have been released do not exist on the ground. “If the bunkers had been there, the devastation caused by shelling in Poonch (in the aftermath of ‘Operation Sindoor) could have been minimised.”

Poonch was the worst hit district where at least 14 civilians, including four children, were killed while dozens were injured in the cross-border shelling by Pakistan after India carried out strikes on suspected terrorist bases across the LoC and Pakistan.

Jan said that the PWD has claimed that the construction material such as cement and steel was dispatched to some areas of Poonch.

“But some of these bunkers don’t exist on the ground while no one knows what happened to the construction material. Instead of these temporary solutions, the government should come up with permanent bunkers for areas which fall on the zero line along the LoC to end the sufferings of border residents once and for all,” he said.

Earlier this year, a house committee was formed by the J&K assembly to probe the alleged irregularities in the Union government’s Jal Jeevan Mission scheme in which the UT administration had procured pipes worth Rs 582.50 crore which were allegedly unsuitable for J&K’s hilly terrain among other allegations of malpractices.

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