Bhartiya Janta Party Delegation led by its Kashmir Incharge Sunil Sharma met Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Village Defence Committees (VDC’s) and Dhok Defence Committees (DDC’s). “While apprising the Home Minister regarding various problems being faced by the VDCs/ DDCs, the delegation also briefed him about long pending demands of these committees which included regularisation of VDCs/DDCs , regularisation of their salaries, filling the vacancies urgently and providing salaries to unpaid members of these committees also through Direct Benefit Transfer in their accounts,” a member of delegation said. HM gave a patient hearing to all the demands and took swift decisions regarding some on the spot. He immediately directed the ministry officials to prepare proper proposal regarding the salaries of unpaid members and assured that all the genuine demands shall be resolved soon. The delegation on the directions of State President of BJP Ravinder Raina was led by Sunil Sharma and others who accompanied the delegation included Thakur Basant Raj, Narinder Kotwal, Mohan Lal ( Udhampur) , Uttam Chand ( Kathua), Suresh Kumar (( Samba) , Suresh Kumar ( Doda ), Prateek Kumar, Chuni Lal, Amar Chand and Joginder Kumar ( Paddar ).Village Defence Committees (VDCs) were first setup in the mid-1990s in the Chenab Valley area of Jammu and Kashmir for the self-defence of Hindus in remote hilly villages against militancy. They consist of villagers as well as police officers They were mainly set up to protect Hindus and minority Muslims. Following the killing of a Kashmiri-Hindu Sarpanch in June 2020, former Jammu and Kashmir police chief said Shesh Paul Vaid that Hindus and minority Muslims could be armed and Village Defence Committees could be set up with proper planning. The first VDC was set up under Shesh Paul Vaid when he was a Superintendent of police in Bagankote village, Udhampur (now Reasi) in 1995.
