BJP fumes as govt excludes 5,300 PoJK refugees from relief package

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 20

The decision of the state government to sanction relief to 36,384 refugee families has stirred another controversy as the BJP, which is part of the coalition, is furious over the move to “intentionally” exclude 5,300 displaced families of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) from this much publicised package.

The 5,300 families, uprooted from PoJK in 1947, have settled outside J&K to earn their livelihood.

The disbursement of relief began on December 12, 2016, by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti but the BJP has strongly opposed the exclusion of 5,300 displaced persons from the list.

“This is sheer injustice with the displaced families settled outside J&K. Without including these families on the list of beneficiaries, the real spirit of the package will not be fulfilled,” said refugee leader and general secretary of the state BJP Narindra Singh.

He argued that refugees from PoJK, settled outside J&K, have the same rights as those who have been living in the state.

The Centre had approved a Rs 2,000-crore package for refugee families from PoJK and persons displaced from the Chhamb area in 1965 and 1971. The state government has identified 36,384 refugee families, including those from Chhamb, as beneficiaries of the package. On the list prepared by the state government, 26,319 PoJK families are eligible for getting relief.

The BJP has reason to cry foul as in 1960 when ex gratia was sanctioned by the Centre for the first time to the displaced persons from PoJK, there were 31,619 refugee families. “Now, the number of these families has been brought down to 26,319, meaning that 5,300 genuine families have been left out without any reason,” said Narendra Singh, who is himself a refugee from PoJK.

Quoting a government order dated December 16, 1950, in which refugees from PoJK were declared displaced persons, he said that due to non-availability of job opportunities some families migrated to other parts of country but now all those families had been excluded from the list of the beneficiaries.

As per the list prepared by the government for sanctioning relief for 36, 384 families, 26,319 belong to PoJK, 3,500 from Chhamb (1965) and 6,565 from Chhamb (1971).

Narendra claimed that of the 5,300 families excluded from the list of beneficiaries, 1,901 had settled in Delhi, 123 in Maharashtra, 495 in Rajasthan and 2,781 in other parts of the country.

Relief distribution stalled 

The disbursement of the relief sanctioned by the Union Government for the refugees of PoJK and displaced persons from Chhamb was started on December 12, 2016, but the same has been stalled due to objections raised by the BJP, which is part of the government. The BJP leadership has demanded that the discrepancies in the list of beneficiaries should be removed.