Jammu, Apr 19: National Conference provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta on Wednesday accused BJP of exploiting migrant Kashmiri Pandits and appealed for a reasonable hike in the cash assistance and adequate compensation to over-aged members of the community.
Gupta was addressing a meeting of the office bearers of the youth wing of the party’s minority cell here with discussions taking place on the issues and problems being faced by the migrant Kashmiri Pandit community living in different parts of Jammu.
Cash assistance provided to displaced families, over-aged members suffering on account of the exodus from the Valley, allotment of shops within the Kashmiri migrant camps, and the pitiable condition of tenements or quarters were some of the issues on which deliberations were held, a party spokesman said.
“BJP has exploited Kashmiri Pandit migrants to the hilt just for satiating its vote bank interests. It is really unfortunate that despite increased cost of living amid sky rocketing prices and peak inflation the cash assistance being paid to the Kashmiri migrants has not been enhanced for the past so many years,” Gupta said.
While dearness allowance of the employees was also hiked due to high cost of living, the Kashmiri migrants are unable to make ends meet with the meagre cash assistance and these people are out on roads protesting for relief enhancement and other issues.
He appealed to the government to immediately announce a reasonable hike in the cash assistance being provided to them.
The senior NC leader said the BJP government had made promises to rehabilitate the migrants Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley but these proved to be a “cruel joke” as nothing has been done in this regard since 2014 when the BJP came to power at Centre.
He dared the BJP government to reveal what steps have been taken by it for the employment of unemployed KP youth, including those who are now barred due to them being over-aged.
He urged the government to provide appropriate one-time settlement compensation to the over-aged Kashmiri Pandit youth.
Gupta while asserting that the two-room tenements were constructed under the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh and under the regime of Omar Abdullah in J&K asked the BJP to clarify how many quarters were constructed for KP migrants in the Jammu region after 2014.
“The quarters in different KP camps are lying in a pitiable condition and the government must immediately initiate meaningful renovation of the same,” he said.
He also demanded that the shops lying vacant in these camps should be allotted to the deserving KPs following a proper procedure.
