We are deeply touched: Refugees
PrashantNews
After the abrogation of the Article 370 and getting a financial package from the centre, the West Pakistan Refugees living in Jammu have thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the two big steps.
The refuges were denied citizenships in Jammu and Kashmir for 7 decades after the 1947 partition.
President of ‘West Pakistani refugees (WPR) Association Labha Ram Gandhi met Union Minister of state for Earth Science and Atomic Energy Dr. Jitendra Singh in New Delhi on Thursday and thanked the Prime Minister for taking various steps to ameliorate their conditions.
Dr Singh also expressed the heartfelt gratitude to the Prime Minister Modi for his unwavering support and assistance during times of hardship and displacement of the refugees. The refugees said “we are deeply touched by the kindness and generosity shown towards us, ensuring our well-being and integration into the Indian society.”
West Pakistani Refugees (WPRs) are those who migrated from areas in the West Pakistan in the wake of partition in the year 1947 and settled in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, mainly in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts of Jammu Division. The 5,764 migrated families were not treated as Permanent Residents in Jammu & Kashmir. Though the WPRs are citizens of India and have the right to vote in parliamentary elections, they did not have the right to vote in the assembly and local body elections. They did not have the right to purchase property there. The children of these WPRs could not take admission in the technical and professional institutions of J&K.
In order to reduce the hardships of WPRs, the Ministry of Home Affairs had approved a rehabilitation package similar to the package implemented for the displaced persons families of POJK (1947) & Chhamb (1965 &1971). The objective was to enable the WPR families living in J&K to run small business/self-employment venture or which can provide the families some assured and sustained earnings Accordingly, the scheme for providing one-time financial assistance of Rs.5.5 lakh per family to the 5764 WPR families with a total outlay of Rs. 317.02 crores was implemented on 13.06.2018 with the approval of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC), with the time-line as 31.03.2021. Due to non-receipt of authenticated proposals from the Govt, of J&K, there was no disbursement of financial assistance during the years 2018-19 and 2019-20. Hence with the SFC approval, the scheme was further extended till the end of the last financial year.
Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs.5.5 lakh per family was disbursed by the Ministry of Home Affairs into the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.