Pandits protest Food Act implementation

Tribune News Service

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Jammu, March 11

Demanding rollback of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), displaced Kashmiri Pandits living at Jagti camp township hold protest against its implementation. They demanded that ration should be distributed as per the old scale.

Led by Jagti Tenement Committee (JTC) president Shadi Lal Pandita, protesters alleged that displaced people were already facing a lot of hardships because of exodus from the Valley and the NFSA would deprive them of ration.

Pandita has appealed to the Central Government and state administration to ensure the timely supply of essential commodities, especially ration, to the relief card holders. “Majority of the relief card holders don’t get ration on time. Even flour and sugar is not available at the ration depots and people are made to wait for days,” he alleged.

Protesters alleged that ration supplies for February were released in the first week of March and there is a routine delay every month. The JTC also demanded that the Central Government should come up with a detailed plan to rehabilitate Pandits in the Kashmir valley.

Displaced Kashmiri Hindus also expressed concern over the ban on issuing of “Resident of Backward Area (RBA)” certificate to Pandit youth. Community members allege that the Relief Organisation was harassing the youth.

They alleged that people living in the camp township had alleged that many of the families from backward areas of the Kashmir valley after the eruption of militancy in 1990 could not take benefits enjoyed under the RBA category, especially in government employment.