Srinagar: The BJP-led NDA government has promised to constitute a panel to evaluate the first housing society in Srinagar set up by Kashmir Pandits for their permanent settlement in the valley.
A three-member panel of the society met the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in New Delhi on Thursday. The panel including Chairman of the Housing Society Ashok Manvita, Secretary Satish Mahaldar and member Kamal Choudhary discussed with the minister the maiden housing society, encroachment over migrant properties and the government's return and rehabilitation policy.
Speaking to ETV Bharat after the meeting, Mahaldar said MoS Rai hailed them for setting up the housing society for the settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in their homeland. “He (the MoS Home) assured financial support and subsidies for land. Whatever is possible will be offered to the society by the government,” he said.
The government, according to Mahaldar, will set up a committee of officials to evaluate the possible financial and administrative support to their proposal of helping Kashmir Pandits return home and live in a private society.
This is a departure from the past when the Kashmiri Pandit community would entirely rely on the government for their return and rehabilitation. Previously, the government's proposal of setting up exclusive townships for the community has drawn criticism from the mainstream parties as well.
“The centre will take up the matter of land for the society with the J&K government for its speedy process,” Mahaldar said.
As reported by ETV Bharat, the Kashmiri Pandits have formally registered the 'The Displaced Kashmiri Residents Housing Cooperative, Srinagar' with the Registrar Cooperative Societies in Jammu and Kashmir. The housing society comprises 11 Kashmiri Pandits and two Sikhs, all of whom fled the valley at the onset of militancy followed by selective minority killings since 1989.
Mahaldar said that the minister made it clear to them that nothing will be offered free of cost and they (Kashmiri Pandits) may have to partly pay nominal rates from their own for the land. “Tentatively 70 percent can be offered by the government and the rest of the Kashmiri Pandit family will pay from their pocket,” he added.
In 2019, Mahaldar who is also the chairman of J&K Peace Forum, had submitted to the MHA a list of 419 Kashmiri migrant families who were willing to return to the valley. On the floor of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2010, the then government claimed 219 Kashmiri Pandits including top government functionaries were killed by terrorists in the Valley.
This forced over 62,000 Kashmiri Pandits to flee from the valley to Jammu, New Delhi and other parts of the country for safety, abandoning their native places. The community claimed their homes were plundered and encroached forcing many to sell their properties in 'distress'. For this, the government launched an online portal in August 2021, allowing the migrants to report on encroachment and 'distress sale'.
“We were told to submit the list of encroachments on the properties of Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir. The government will take it up with the J&K government for getting it evicted,” Mahaldar said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997 describes them as "migrants". The central government in order to facilitate their return under the Prime Minister’s Development Package 2015 and Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan 2008 created 6,000 jobs for the Pandits in the Valley.
Of them, 5724 Kashmiri migrants have been appointed, according to the official data of August 2024. Besides, 6000 transit accommodations in north, central and south Kashmir are being constructed for employees.
Mahaldar said the home minister Nityanand Rai told them the Bharatiya Janata Party government has fulfilled their commitments through the PM Package by offering employment packages and transit accommodations in the Valley.
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