Srinagar: After coming under sharp criticism from the Kashmiri Pandit community and also from Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for not doing anything to bring them back, the BJP government has decided to give a mega push for their rehabilitation in the valley.
Many Kashmiri Pandit organizations expressed their dismay over the silence by the BJP government to rehabilitate them in Kashmir valley. During his recent visit to Mata Vishnav Devi in Jammu, Rahul Gandhi met many migrant Kashmiri Pandit delegations and later told media that he is himself a Kashmiri Pandit and understands their pain and sufferings.
He said that he will not do lip service like the BJP, but will take some concrete measures for their better lives. In order to blunt this criticism, the BJP government has decided to make accommodation at several places in Kashmir valley for the interested migrant Kashmiri pandits to return. In this direction, on Friday Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for the 40-crore transit camp, which will accommodate 336 Kashmiri Pandit migrant families. He said that it is the step taken by the Narendra Modi government for those migrant Kashmiri Pandits who want to return and live in Kashmir peacefully.
Talking to the media, the Union Minister said that the majority communities of Kashmir are very keen that the migrant Kashmiri Pandits should return and live with them in peace and joy. “I am also thankful to the people of Baramulla and Kashmir for their cooperation in executing this project,” the Union Minister was quoted by news agencies as saying on Friday.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of concern in the J&K administration as few people who are living as migrants, including Pandits, Hindus and Sikhs, are coming forward to get their domicile certificates. When the central government decided to provide the domicile certificate to all the former residents of Jammu and Kashmir, it was expected that most of them would come forward to get this certificate.
In this direction, the Office of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner held many camps to give on spot certificate to the interested former residents and many such camps were held in capital New Delhi also, but very few came forward, according to media reports.
According to the officials of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, despite their best efforts even in New Delhi during the special camps organized by them, only 3,000 turned up to take application forms, 806 of whom were registered and issued domicile certificates on the spot. The officials said that such migrant Kashmiri families who are living in Delhi are more than 25,000.