Rajnath Singh asks J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for composite townships for Pandits

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to provide land for composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits, with Sayeed assuring the same during a meeting between the two leaders in Delhi on Tuesday. The Home Ministry said the issue of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was not discussed.

The Home Ministry is now pressing for "composite townships" for Kashmiri Pandits in an effort to ensure that Pandits returning to the Valley are not ghettoized in a particular locality and their integration with the local population in Kashmir is achieved, a senior home ministry official said. The plan is to provide Kashmiri Pandits with "good quality" 1,000 apartments built at a cost of Rs 40 lakh each near Srinagar, a far cry from the shabby two-room transit accommodation provided to them in Jammu, to motivate them to return to J&K.

The NBCC has approved the architecture and design of the said flats and will construct the same while locals in Kashmir would also be given an option to stay in the said township which will hence not be exclusively for Kashmiri Pandits. "The J&K Chief Minister assured the Union Home Minister that the state government will acquire and provide land at the earliest for composite townships in the Valley," a Home Ministry statement said.

Sayeed also met the Prime Minister and later said he spoke to the PM about "the political situation and the measures to be taken for good governance" in J&K. "The Union Home Minister mentioned that the people had great expectations from the Centre and the coalition government in the state and that the Centre will esnure that all possible assistance would be provided to utilize the full potential of the alliance both in the area of security and welfare of people," the Home Ministry said regarding the Rajnath-Sayeed meeting.

The Home Ministry further said the issue of ex-gratia relief for damage and casualty during cross-border firing and enhanced remuneration to Special Police Officers (SPOs) was discussed. "The issue of raising of Indian Reserve Battalions for J&K and effective utilisation of state police was also discussed in the meeting," a Home Ministry statement said.