Jammu: Amid reports about desperate attempts of the Pakistan-sponsored terror groups to revive their activities in the remotest hilly areas of Jammu province, the Jammu and Kashmir has decided to rejuvenate the virtually 'defunct' Village Defence Committees (VDCs) to frustrate evil designs of anti-national forces.

Recently some camps were organized to check the weapons of VDC members. Such camp was organized in Reasi recently in which nearly 6000 VDC members, including 20 women of district Reasi had participated.

The VDCs were set up in the mid-1990s with an aim to strengthen the security of people living in remote and mountainous areas of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri, Reasi, Kathua, and Poonch districts of the Jammu region. Later VDCs were constituted in plains of Jammu, especially in border villages to check infiltration.

The members of these committees not only guard the identified villages along the border, but also the infrastructural installations in and around them.

As per the official data, there are 4,125 VDCs in the Union Territory (UT) and the Army and Police train them from time to time in weapons-handling and intelligence-gathering skills. There are five members in a VDC and two of its members, which are called SPOs, are getting wages at the rate of Rs 18,000 per month.

Carved in the mid-1990s to combat Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the VDCs remain indispensable even after more than two decades of their inception.

A VDC in Kulali village near Hill Kaka in Poonch where Operation "Sarp Vinash" was carried out by the Army in 2003 played a significant role in combating terrorists. The security forces had killed over 60 terrorists in the operation.