Over 46,000 Kashmiri families left valley in early 1990s due to security reasons: Govt in Lok Sabha

Nityanand Rai, MoS for Home Affairs, while replying to a question from Shiv Sena MP Kalaben Mohanbhai Delkar enquiring about the measures taken by the Government for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir during the last five years and the current year, Tuesday said that 46,631 Kashmiri Migrant families were registered with the Relief Organization (Migrant), while several other Kashmiri Migrant families migrated to other parts of the country.

New Delhi:As many as 46,631 Kashmiri Migrant families comprising 1,57,967 individuals are registered with the Relief Organization (Migrant), Jammu and Kashmir, while several other Kashmiri Migrant families migrated to other parts of the country in the early 1990s due to security reasons, the government informed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

This information came in as a written response from Nityanand Rai, MoS for Home Affairs while replying to a question from Shiv Sena MP Kalaben Mohanbhai Delkar enquiring about the measures taken by the Government for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir during the last five years and the current year.

According to the information provided by Union Minister Rai, the Government has taken several measures to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Migrants back into the valley including 5,675 Kashmiri Migrants who have been provided government employment.

"The Government of Jammu and Kashmir launched an online portal in August, 2021 wherein Kashmiri Migrants can lodge online grievances with regards to encroachment, change of title, Mutation, and distress sale. Till date, 2924 Kanals and 19.55 Marlas land has been retrieved," he said.

The other measures include the issuance of ration cards to those Kashmiri Migrant families who don’t have ration cards, Ayushman Sehat Cards to those Kashmiri migrant families that have been registered for issuance of Domicile Certificates, extension of benefits of Social Security schemes to Kashmiri Migrant families especially Ladli Beti, Marriage Assistance and others.

"Launching of online services for registration and issuance of certificates. So far, 160856 domicile certificates, 2035 Resident of Backward Area (RBA) certificates, 902 EWS certificates, and 31672 migrant certificates have been issued, the minister further added.

For several years, successive governments have failed to provide any successful rehabilitation policy that could help the return of Kashmiri Pandits as they had to run away in the late 1990s fearing for their lives as militancy gripped the region.