Enhance incentives for Pandits willing to return: Omar Abdullah

NEW DELHI: Underlining that "Kashmiriyat" is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged the Centre to enhance the cash incentive and jobs for youths from the displaced community who want to return to the Valley.

Addressing the National Integration Council, Omar said a revised proposal has been submitted to the Centre for enhancing the ceiling for various incentives available under the PM's Package for the Return and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants in Kashmir Valley, announced in 2008.

The Chief Minister said Jammu and Kashmir is a pluralistic, multilingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic state which does not have a history of communal riots.

"When the entire country was in the throes of partition in 1947, the communal harmony in the state provided the only ray of hope to Mahatma Gandhiji. The state went through a tumultuous period in the early 90s, which saw the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir Valley," he said.

"People of the state are conscious of the fact that the composite culture of the State, often referred to as "Kashmiriyat" is incomplete without the return of the Kashmiri Pandits," he said, adding that the state government is keen to rehabilitate and re-settle Kashmiri migrants in the Valley.

He said the state government has proposed enhancing the cash incentive from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for re-construction of houses and also provision of additional 3000 jobs for Kashmiri migrant youths who would return to the Valley.