No details of migrants settled in Kashmir in 4 years: Centre

JAMMU: The BJP-led government at the Centre, which had promised to initiate the process of “just and honourable” re-settlement of displaced Pandits in the Kashmir valley, has no idea of how many migrants have returned to Kashmir during the past more than four years of its tenure.

The Jagti migrant camp in Jammu. Tribune File Photo

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, October 17

The BJP-led government at the Centre, which had promised to initiate the process of “just and honourable” re-settlement of displaced Pandits in the Kashmir valley, has no idea of how many migrants have returned to Kashmir during the past more than four years of its tenure.

However, the Centre made it clear that it has not shelved the proposal for the construction of 6,000 transit tenements in the Valley under the Prime Minister’s Development Plan, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 2015.

“Regarding the number of Kashmiri migrants settled in the Kashmir valley from May 26, 2014 (the day BJP-led NDA government took over the reins) to June 20, 2018, its details are not available with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),” said the Central Public Information Officer of the department of J&K affairs, MHA, in response to an RTI application filed by Jammu-based activist Rohit Choudhary.

Before the Assembly elections in 2014, the BJP had promised to initiate the process of “honourable” re-settlement of the displaced members of the Kashmiri Pandit community in the Valley with security and dignity.

It had also promised that if voted to power, the party would reserve three seats in the Assembly for displaced Kashmiris.

The MHA said the number of Kashmiri migrants settled and registered with the J&K Government was 41,995 while the count of Kashmir migrants settled and registered with Delhi and the NCR region was 19,338. “Their number in Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand is 1,995,” it said.

Pertinently, the state government has identified 723 kanals (nearly 100 acres) for return and rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, who migrated from the Valley in January 1990, following the eruption of militancy.

The land was identified after the Centre’s approval for construction of 6,000 transit tenements in the Valley for allotment to Kashmir Pandits.

“The Deputy Commissioners in the Kashmir valley have identified 723.03 kanals with a tentative cost of land Rs 374.65 crore,” a source said.

Post-insurgency in Kashmir, nearly 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits, and some Sikh and Muslim families, had migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country for safety. The mass migration had begun on January 19, 1990.