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JAMMU, India, March 17 (AFP) - Indian authorities said Monday they will build sturdier homes for 15,000 families living along the disputed Kashmir border, where Indian and Pakistani troops frequently trade fire.

Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, the top elected official in the Indian zone of Kashmir, said New Delhi had earmarked 100 million rupees (2.1 million dollars) to build the reinforced houses for people living within one kilometer of the frontier.

"This assistance will be given to border villagers to construct safe houses," Sayeed told the Kashmir state assembly, meeting in the winter capital Jammu.

"As a result of intermittent but heavy firing, civilians get killed and wounded. Houses get destroyed, leading to repeated migration from the border villages," he said.

Some 153,000 people fled homes near the de facto border during a 10-month military standoff last year between India and Pakistan, which both control parts of Kashmir and have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory.

Another 45,000 Kashmiris remain displaced on the Indian side from the 1999 Kargil conflict, when Indian troops clashed with Muslim militants backed by Pakistan who infiltrated the icy heights of Kargil.

Officials said the assistance would go to construct new homes for 15,000 families who were living within a kilometer of the disputed border, but that they were considering appeals from those who resided within 10 kilometers (six miles), as they have also been hit in the past by crossfire.

India and Pakistan deployed a million troops to their common borders after a December 2001 attack on the parliament in New Delhi that India said was carried out by Pakistan-backed guerrillas active in Indian Kashmir's separatist insurgency.

After intense international diplomacy, the two countries agreed in October to pull back troops, but India has made clear it would not reduce forces along the 742-kilometer (460-mile) Line of Control that divides Kashmir.

The two armies routinely trade fire and mortar shells across the frontier, with frequent casualties to military personnel and civilians alike.

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