Centre also okays 3,000 more jobs for Pandit migrants in Valley
In a major relief for the migrants of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, the government today announced the raising of the honorarium for the migrants of the hilly regions of Jammu while also approving additional state government jobs and transit accommodations in the Kashmir Valley for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit migrants.
The decisions were taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet here chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing the media after the meeting of the Union Cabinet, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh in the presence of Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said the honorarium for the migrants of the hilly regions of Jammu would now be at par with that being paid to the Kashmiri Pandit migrants. It would be a six-fold jump over the Rs 400 per person being paid now.
Singh also said the Centre would provide state government jobs and transit accommodations in the Kashmir valley for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants at an estimated expenditure of Rs 2,000 crore.
As per the new proposal, the migrants of the hilly region of Jammu would now be given relief at par with the Kashmiri migrants which would come to Rs 2,500 per head per month (with a maximum of Rs 10,000 per family per month) plus relief for ration and fodder.
The expenditure incurred by the state government in this regard would now be reimbursed by the Central Government.
At present, the state government is providing cash relief of Rs 400 per head per month (with a maximum of Rs 1,600 per family per month), cash assistance of Rs 300 per cattle per month for purchase of fodder, plus dry ration (9-kg atta, 2-kg rice per person per month and 10 litres of kerosene per family per month) to the migrants of the hilly areas of Jammu division.
As a result of terrorism, many families have migrated from different hilly areas of Jammu division to safer towns. At present, there are 1,054 registered Jammu migrant families.
For the Kashmiri Pandit migrants, the Centre will provide additional 3,000 state government jobs and construct transit accommodation in the Kashmir valley for the Kashmiri migrants to whom state government jobs have been provided or will be provided.
The Centre will provide about 6,000 dwellings to these migrants. Earlier in 2008, a package of Rs 1,618.40 crore was announced to facilitate the return of the migrants to the Kashmir valley. Under this package, 3,000 state government jobs were to be provided to the Kashmiri migrants with Central funding. As many as 1,963 jobs have already been provided and the process for meeting the remaining target is underway.
The government has constructed 469 transit accommodations in the Kashmir valley which have been allotted to the newly appointed migrant employees on sharing basis.
