Nearly 700 residents of Kalewal,Sekhewal and Haider Nagar villages who were displaced due to the Indian Armys Operation Saiyam to dispose of nearly 17,000 pieces of munition finally have a reason to cheer. Though the drive will continue,the villagers can be back home in another fortnight. Out of the nearly 17,000 pieces of munition,we have demolished nearly 1,700. In another 15 days,we are hopeful of disposing of the entire heavyweight stock. The rest of the drive can be carried out even if the villagers are back home and the daily evacuation exercise may be stopped soon. But the exact situation can be assessed after 15 days. For the time being,we have relaxed the morning evacuation time from 7.30 am to 9 am because of cold weather, said Lt Col Vinod Bhatt,in charge of the 202 Bomb Disposal Squad,which is carrying out the exercise. The total expenditure involved in this operation is Rs 1.36 crore. These explosives had come in scrap containers received by nine importers from Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh in 2004. This seems to be the biggest quantity of explosives to be defused till now by the Indian Army in Punjab. Lt Col Bhatt and Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari said all these importers were reimbursing the expenditure after directions to this effect issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Indian Army and the district administration. Bhushan Steels,one of the biggest importers,has already deposited Rs 1.18 crore with the district administration,while the rest have also followed suit. This money is lying with the district administration and will be reimbursed to the Army after the operation is over. The DC said any additional expenditure would also have to be borne by the industrialists. The detonation drive is also serving as a training ground for the members of 201 Bomb Disposal Squad from Tuglaqabad. Ten members of the unit are being imparted training on how to defuse bombs. They will attend another such drive at Tuglaqabad,which too had received explosives in scrap containers,but in less quantity. When asked why the Mattewara forest reserve was chosen as the site for the drive,the DC said: This decision was taken about five years ago. Moreover,it would have been very risky to travel to Rajasthan one of the sites meant for detonation along with such a high quantity of ammunition.
