Nearly 34 lakh issued J&K domicile certificate: MHA

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 2

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today informed Parliament that the J&K Government has reported that up to January 25, 2021, a total of 33,80,234 domicile certificates have been issued in the UT.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, while placing on record the exact number of the domicile certificate issued by the J&K Administration, said, “It has been further reported by the UT Administration that since the constitutional changes were made in August, 2019, 58 civilians have lost their lives in 54 terror attacks.”

The minister, however, contended that no pattern of selective targeting based on religion could be established, as the question was asked around the number of Hindus killed in J&K.

“As J&K has been battling the menace of terrorism for the last three decades, various measures were taken to protect the life and property of the people, particularly those belonging to the vulnerable sections, Reddy said.

“The efforts on the part of the government include overall, as well as specific, security arrangements, through appropriate deployment based on intelligence inputs, identification and arrest of supporters of terrorism, proactive operations to seek and arrest/neutralisation of terrorists, intensified night patrolling and checking at nakas. Coordination meetings are held regularly and a high level of alertness is maintained by the security forces,” he added.

The minister also informed that the J&K Government had also approved a business revival package of Rs 1,352.99 crore on September 25, 2020.

“An amount of Rs 434.08 crore was released up to December 31, 2020, out of which Rs 250 crore was as economic package and Rs 184.08 crore as Covid-19 relief package. The amount of Rs 434.08 crore has been fully utilised by December 31, 2020,” the minister said.

‘Decline in tourist arrival after abrogation’

• Union Minister of State for Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday informed the Rajya Sabha that since August 5, 2019, the number of tourist arrivals in J&K had declined.
• In response to a query, Patel said the “impact was felt severely in the Kashmir valley than in the Jammu division”. He, however, did not refer to the causative factor for the negative development.
• He said, however, tourist footfalls in Jammu and Kashmir had been gradually increasing since last few months.