Govt to address concerns of PoJK refugees: Bali

JAMMU: Holding the previous regimes responsible for exploiting the issue of persons displaced from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in the state, Minister for Social Welfare, Forest, Ecology and Environment Bali Bhagat today said the PDP-BJP coalition government was committed to address all outstanding issues of theirs on a priority.

Bali Bhagat, Minister for Social Welfare, Forest, Ecology and Environment, flags off ‘Run for Justice’ rally on the occasion of the 124th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, in Jammu on Sunday. A Tribune Photo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 12

Holding the previous regimes responsible for exploiting the issue of persons displaced from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in the state, Minister for Social Welfare, Forest, Ecology and Environment Bali Bhagat today said the PDP-BJP coalition government was committed to address all outstanding issues of theirs on a priority.

Speaking at a daylong convention of the PoJK Displaced Persons Front at Udheywala in the Raipur Domana seat near Jammu today, the minister said all the successive governments of the state had handled the issue of displaced persons with a casual approach and consequently, the issue was still hanging fire.

The minister said the present PDP-BJP government was serious about addressing their long-pending issues, which were enshrined in the common minimum programme of the coalition government.

Bhagat said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Jammu before the Assembly elections in 2014, had assured PoJK-displaced persons that their issues would be addressed and they must wait.

Bhagat said both the Centre as well as the state government would handle the issue with a humane angle and address the same on a priority.

He said the government would reexamine the one-time package which was sent to the Centre by the previous government and take a decision on it. He asked the displaced persons to keep full faith in the coalition government and asserted that they would get justice.

Regarding issues of PoJK displaced like updating records, registration of left-out families, ownership rights, ALC certificates, reservation of wards for admission in government institutions and backward status, the minister said the government would examine the issues afresh and take appropriate steps to address those.

The minister earlier flagged off a ‘Run for Justice’ rally from Ambedkar Park in Resham Ghar Colony, which was organised by the All India Confederation of SC/ST/OBC Organisation to commemorate the 124th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Hundreds of office-bearers of the confederation and the youth participated in the rally, that culminated at Ambedkar Chowk, near Panama Chowk. On culmination, they garlanded the statue of Dr Ambedkar and paid tributes to him.