New Delhi, July 29, 2021 (PPI-OT): Kashmiri Pandits have been feeling “more secure” and over 3,800 youngsters from the community have moved back to Kashmir recently to take up jobs provided as part of the prime minister’s rehabilitation package, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai said this in a written reply to a question put to his ministry in the Rajya Sabha. He was asked a clutch of questions on Kashmiri Pandits such as whether the government is aware that many of them have become “insecure” in the last few years, the number of Kashmiri Pandit and Dogra Hindu families currently staying in the Kashmir valley and their demands from the government.
“As per the report of the Relief Office set up in 1990 by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, 44,167 Kashmiri migrant families are registered, who had to move from the valley since 1990. Out of these, the count of registered Hindu migrant families is 39, 782,” the minister stated. “Kashmiri Pandits have felt more secure in the recent past, as evident from the fact that 3,841 Kashmiri migrants’ youth have moved back to Kashmir and have taken up jobs in various districts of Kashmir under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package,” he said.
Nityanand Rai added that another 1,997 candidates were selected for jobs under the same package in April and they will be moving to Kashmir soon. He said 6,000 residential units are being constructed for them at an “accelerated pace” and 1,000 residential units are already being used by these employees. The minister also gave the number of these families based in the valley.
“Approximately 900 such families, including Kashmiri Pandit and Dogra Hindu families, are residing in Kashmir. “As regards those who never migrated from Kashmir, the government allowed their inclusion in the jobs package for Kashmiri migrants,” he said. Besides, they are getting all the benefits of government schemes along with others in Kashmir, Rai added.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org