Over 5,000 displaced families, many of whom came over from Pak-occupied territories and were living in Jammu and Kashmir regions will now get a Rs 5.5 lakh grant from the Centre.
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday decided to include these 5,300 families among those who are provided this grant, Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
“A historical wrong has been corrected,” Javadekar said.
Javadekar said that these had initially opted to move outside of Jammu and Kashmir but later on returned and settled in there. In the rehabilitation package approved by the Cabinet on November 30, 2016 for displaced families from PoJK and Chhamb under the PM’s Development Package 2015 for Jammu & Kashmir, these families were not included.
The approval will enable such displaced families to become eligible to get one-time financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh under the existing scheme, and in turn, be able to get some sustained income which the existing scheme is aimed at, an official statement said.
It added that in the wake of the 1947 Pakistani aggression in J&K, 31,619 families migrated from Pakistan Occupied Areas of J&K (PoJK) to the state of J&K. Of these, 26,319 families settled in the state of J&K and 5300 families initially opted to move out of the state of J&K to other parts of the country. Further, during the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971 10,065 more families were displaced from Chhamb-Niabat area. Of these 3,500 families were displaced during the 1965 war and 6565 families were displaced during the 1971 war.
The 36,384 displaced families covered under the package approved by the Cabinet in 2016 included 26,319 displaced families from PoJK settled in J&K and 10,065 families displaced from Chhamb-Niabat area. The 5300 displaced families of PoJK who initially opted to move out of the state of J&K to other parts of the country were not included in the approved package. Now those families out of the 5300 who initially opted to move out of the State but later returned and settled in J&K are being included in the package, the statement said.
Inclusion of those families out of 5,300 families of PoJK 1947 who have returned and settled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in the existing scheme, who have suffered on account of wars and hostilities, will enable them to earn a reasonable monthly income and be part of mainstream economic activities, he added.
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