12 Bunkers removed in Srinagar

Srinagar:  Paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has removed 12 more bunkers from Srinagar city since late Wednesday.Speaking to spokesman, Prabhar Tripathi said that 12 bunkers were removed from Batamaloo , Karan Nagar, Zaina Kadal , Saraf Kadal , Babademb, Rainawari and  Nowhatta areas of Srinagar city  since last night, taking the total number of bunkers removed from the summer capital to 40.Pertinently, in February, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had announced the removal of twelve more bunkers from the city as part of an exercise launched to reduce the pervasive presence of troops from the Valley.  Prior to Abdullah’s announcement, 16 bunkers had already been removed in the first phase in October last year followed by removal of another 12 bunker earlier this year.The exercise is part of New Delhi’s 8-point formula, announced in the wake of massive anti-India protests and over 112 killings by government forces last summer in Kashmir valley.The thinking out of forces aims to win over the common perception that overbearing presence of forces in and around residential areas was a refrain to them.And it is under this idea that the state government has de-scaled many bunkers and barricades in this summer capital Srinagar. The step doesn’t have any negative effect on normal vigil and policing, official sources said. New Delhi had also asked the state government to review the deployment of troops in the Kashmir Valley with particular reference to de-scaling the number of bunkers, check-points in Srinagar and other towns, and to review the notification of areas as ‘disturbed areas’.