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LG lays foundation stone of mega housing project for Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar
Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone of transit accommodation at Zewan on the city outskirts for those employed under the special PM package
Amid continuous protests by migrant Kashmiri Pandits seeking postings out of the Valley owing to targeted attacks, Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Friday laid the foundation stone of a mega housing project for such employees in Srinagar.
He laid the foundation stone of transit accommodation at Zewan on the city outskirts for those employed under the special PM package. The project will have 936 flats.
“The highest number of Kashmiri migrant employees is in Srinagar. So (construction of) a big housing project was started today in Srinagar. We are trying to complete this till December. I believe this will solve their accommodation problems and other issues as well,” Sinha said.
The housing colony, under the Prime Minister’s development package (PMDP), is being constructed on 113 kanals by public works department (R&B).
There are nearly 4,000 migrant Kashmiri Pandits, who have been living in transit camps in various parts of Kashmir after they were given government jobs under a special package announced by the prime minister in 2010.
The employees have been holding protests after a series of attacks by suspected militants targeting Pandits and non-local migrant workers in Kashmir last year. They have been demanding their relocation to Jammu till the situation improves in the Valley.
“In a very sensitive way, we are trying to solve the issues of migrant Kashmiri Pandits, particularly employees. The administration has been consistently in contact with the KP and Jammu-based employees,” Sinha said.
“The administration, in collaboration with police, has deployed some of them at places which are more secure,” he added.
Sinha said more flats are getting ready in Kashmir. “Earlier, we started work on construction of houses for Kashmiri migrants in Baramulla and Bandipora, where 1,200 flats will be completed in April and 1,800 in December,” he added.
He said the administration has also looked into their other problems. “Their promotions have been made. Even non-gazetted to gazetted promotions have been sent to PSC and I hope it will be done within 10 days,” Sinha said.
Such protests had escalated after the May 12 attack on an employee, Rahul Bhat, 45, in central Kashmir’s Budgam.
In August, Sunil Kumar Bhat , 48, a fruit farmer, was shot dead, while Puran Krishan Bhat, a fruit cultivator, was killed near his home on October 15, in Shopian district.
Nine Kashmiri Pandits -- one in 2020 and four each in 2021 and 2022 -- have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir since 2020, the ministry of home affairs had informed the Parliament in December last year.
