The General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s White Knight Corps, Lt Gen Paramjit Singh Sangha, visited the remote Hil Kaka in the border district of Poonch on Wednesday to commemorate the sacrifices made by locals and soldiers to drive away terrorists from the region. A defence spokesman said Lt Gen Sangha commemorated the day by laying wreath at the War Memorial at Hil Kaka in Jammu and Kashmir. Hil Kaka was filled with terrorists in the early 2000s. In a unique operation ‘Sarp-Vinash’ in 2003, the locals fought alongside the Indian Army to flush out the terrorists from this region and bring normalcy. Various activities were conducted during the visit — a medical, dental and veterinary camp, distribution of solar lights and sewing machines, the spokesman said. He said Lt Gen Sangha had earlier visited Hil Kaka on November 21, 2018 and the villagers had shared some of their grievances which the Army took up with the civil administration, as a result of which most of the problems of the locals have been addressed to a great extent. The foremost problem of road connectivity was addressed with the commencement of the project for construction of a 14-km road from Bufliaz to Hil Kaka, the spokesman said, adding the project is halfway through. He said 12 students hailing from poor families in Hil Kaka have been admitted at Army Goodwill School, Potha. Mobile connectivity will soon see the light of day with the telecom service providers agreeing for setting up mobile communication towers, the spokesman said. As an interim measure, radio phone sets have been provided in the region to facilitate villagers to communicate in case of an emergency, the spokesman said. To deal with medical emergencies, he said the Army has constructed a helipad at Hil Kaka for evacuation of critical patients.
