J-K beckons Kashmiri Pandits with township site

Estimated to come up at a cost of Rs 221 crore on 716 kanals of land, this township will provide for education, recreation and health of the inhabitants. It will have 40 parks, one higher secondary and two middle schools, one primary health centre and three community halls, besides playgrounds and mini bus stops. There are also plans to set up commercial sites.

The Government’s move comes at a time when even separatist leaders from the Valley have stepped up efforts to persuade Kashmiri Pandits to return to their native places. The moderate Hurriyat faction had even proposed a three-point formula for honourable and safe return of Pandits to the Valley, saying that it was ready to apologise to them for their sufferings.

However, the Kashmiri Pandits, living in migrant camps at Muthi, Purkhoo and Mishriwala, are not too keen to shift. “It is a step to settle us permanently in Jammu,” says S N Dhar, a retired Government teacher and elected president of the Displaced Welfare Committee of Muthi’s Phase I.

As per the Government plan, a total of 4,218 LIG flats will be constructed at Karli in Jagti area near Nagrota in the next two years. This will be apart from 1,024 flats at Muthi, Purkhoo and Nagrota, whose construction is in the final stages and is expected to be completed by December this year.

Once these flats are complete, the Kashmiri Pandits living at migrant camps on the outskirts of the state’s winter capital and other districts in Jammu region will be shifted to these flats. Relief Commissioner Vinod Koul says only the Kashmiri Pandits will be entitled to the flats.

Estimating that around 5,242 families live in these camps, Koul said that “we are closing the migrant camps at Battalwalian in Udhampur and in Kathua district”. Nearly 300 migrant families living at both these places will be taken care of during allotment.