After foiling a spurt of infiltration bids along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir in the last few days, the Army has set itself a winter deadline to fix bunkers and anti-infiltration fence damaged by the October 2005 earthquake.

Last year, the Army had used pre-fabricated material to erect make-shift bunkers to withstand the winter but the harsh conditions of the terrain had greatly compromised those structures. Because the Army was actively aiding relief efforts for quake victims, it had been unable to focus on rebuilding these structures.

At a recent commander conference, the Army has directed local commanders to build permanent structures capable of withstanding artillery fire and the extreme cold using special construction materials. However, Army engineers have managed to re-erect the 750 kilometer anti-infiltration fence in extremely inhospitable and inaccessible areas. They have also installed specialized devices to detect infiltration such as thermal imagers and other electronic gadgets