Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, August 19

Promises made by political party leaders, successive governments and the administration to provide basic facilities at the Sadiqi joint check post (JCP), 13 km from here, at the end of the National Highway 7 on the Indo-Pakistan border have proved to be an eyewash.Hundreds of residents visit the JCP, Sadiqi, daily to witness the retreat (flag lowering) ceremony held jointly by BSF officials and Pakistan Rangers. As per BSF sources, about 80,000 residents from different parts of the country flocked Sadiqi on Independence Days of Pakistan and India on August 14 and 15 to have a glimpse of their kin who were segregated at the time of Partition.Fazilka Sadiqi JCP is the only spot where cross-border meeting used to be held till a few years ago where the residents of both sides of the Radcliff line used to hug and meet each other but the practice was stopped following security reasons about a decade ago. At present, visitors convey their feelings either through gestures or by shouting from a distance.However, the historical place lacks even basic amenities. “There are no proper seating arrangements to accommodate the visitors. They have to sit in the open, braving odd weather conditions,” said Border Area Vikas Manch president Lila Dhar Sharma.There is no arrangement for drinking water. Former Cabinet Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani, MP Sher Singh Ghubaya and dignitaries who visited from other areas had promised to provide RO-based potable water on various occasions but the project could not see light of the day. No eatable or soft drink is available as there is no canteen.Visitors have to wait in queues in the open during frisking, before the commencement of the ceremony, as no shed has been constructed near the barbed wire fencing gate which facilitates entry to the JCP.Besides, the government has failed to offer any transport to reach Sadiqi after covering a distance of about 13 km from Fazilka. “Repeated demands to provide a Punjab roadways bus to ply on this route have fallen on deaf ears,” alleged historian Lachhman Dost.The district administration, civil society representatives and Punjab Tourism Department officials held a meeting under the chairmanship of the Fazilka DC on May 17 this year to promote border area tourism and to develop the Sadiqi JCP as tourist spot but nothing concrete has come out so far.

‘Lacks proper seating arrangements’ 

• “There are no proper seating arrangements to accommodate visitors. They have to sit in the open, braving odd weather conditions,” said Border Area Vikas Manch president Lila Dhar Sharma
• There is no arrangement for drinking water
• Visitors have to wait in queues in the open during frisking before the commencement of the ceremony as no shed has been constructed near the barbed wire fencing gate which facilitates entry to the JCP