To check the migration of Pandits from the Valley, the state Government has banned fresh registration of Kashmiri migrants, according to J&K Relief Commissioner Vinod Koul.

“We are bound by the policy to begin the return of migrants who are settled here in different migrants camps back to the Valley and that is the reason why any fresh registration is being banned,” Koul said, referring to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s priority to rehabilitate the migrants.

Nearly, 930 migrants have expressed their willingness to return to the Valley by signing in on the return forms available from the office of the Relief Commissioner. The migrants expressed their willingness to opt for the Rs 1,600 crore rehabilitation package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year. Among other things, the package provides housing grant, jobs, education opportunities and waiver of interest on loans, for beginning the return of 50,000 Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley. As per the package, those families who wished to construct their houses in the Valley will get Rs 7.5 lakh each.

Officials said the rehabilitation process is making good progress, with construction of homes, or quarters, at Mattan and Shiekhpura almost complete. The Government plans to move the Pandits to these quarters until they repair their houses or rebuild their own houses, the officials added.

Any possibility of return could be only after the Amarnath yatra was over, with officials citing the reason that the ongoing violence in Kashmir has only delayed the process.