The Hindu : Centre reminds Pandits of Rs. 7 lakh package

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 30, 2002

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Centre reminds Pandits of Rs. 7 lakh package

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 29. The Centre has chosen the week in which elections for the second phase in Jammu and Kashmir are officially notified to remind Kashmiri migrants living in camps of the maximum Rs. 7 lakh-package for their resettlement in the State. The package was first announced about two years ago, in October 2000, and there have been no takers for it so far. The timing of the reminder is seen as part of the BJP's election exercise in the State.

Home Ministry sources said that it was no surprise that Kashmiri migrants, mostly Pandits who fled the violence in the State, were not enthusiastic about returning. Those willing to return would have to be convinced that they could restart their lives in security in the State. This sense of security, the sources suggested, would take a long time to achieve.

However, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, I. D. Swami, briefing journalists about the package said that there was a sea change in the security environment in the State, which he insisted was in a mood for peace. He said the Government would do its best to persuade the Pandits, living in camps outside the State, that it was safe to return.

Mr. Swami said he and the Special Secretary in the Home Ministry, Ashok Bhandari, would be meeting with the 3.5 lakh Kashmiri migrants living in camps to inform them about the package, and of the supposed change in the internal security situation in the State.

The financial package, which the Centre hopes will impel people to return to Jammu and Kashmir, is generous by the standards of resettlement packages for other displaced populations.

It includes a rehabilitation grant of Rs. 1.5 lakh for a family and a Rs. 3 lakh reconstruction grant for damaged or burnt out houses, as well as Rs. 1 lakh for household goods and furniture.

The package would, among other things, provide interest-free loans to individuals with a 50 per cent grant component, assistance with re-scheduling loan repayments and waiver of penal interest and exemption of all tax and non-tax arrears such as electricity and telephone bills.

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