Rs 2,000-cr package for PoK refugees on cards

New Delhi, August 28

Amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overtures to the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, the government is all set to announce a Rs 2,000-crore package for the displaced people of PoK living in the country.

The Home Ministry is expected to place the details of the package before the Union Cabinet for approval soon, a senior official said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has already identified 36,348 families for distribution of the package under which each family will get around Rs 5.5 lakh.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

“We hope that within a month, the package will get approval and funds could be distributed,” the official said.

The refugees from West Pakistan, mostly from PoK, got settled in different areas of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. However, they are not permanent residents of the state in terms of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution.

Some of the families were displaced during Partition in 1947, and others during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The displaced people can cast their votes in Lok Sabha polls but not in the elections to the state Assembly.

J&K Sharanarthi Action Committee, representing the displaced people, has been maintaining that the package should not be seen as a final settlement as Rs 9,200 crore was required to settle all of them.

The Centre had in 2015 approved certain concessions for the refugees, including recruitment drives for paramilitary forces, equal job opportunities in the state and admission for the children of refugees in KVs. — PTI