Total 44,167 Kashmiri migrant families registered since 1990: MHA

New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha gave a detailed reply on the number of Kashmiri Hindus who left their home state in the wake of terrorism and also on the steps taken by the government for rehabilitation.

In the reply, MHA said, “As per the report of Relief Office setup in 1990 by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 44,167 Kashmiri migrant families are registered who had to move from the valley since 1990 due to security concerns. Out of these, the count of registered Hindu Migrant families is 39,782.”

The Ministry said that special jobs for the Kashmiri migrant youth under the PM package has been an important component for the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri migrants.

“A total of nearly 3800 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir in the last few years to take up the PM package jobs,” the ministry said.

” Another nearly 2,000 migrant candidates are also likely to return under the same policy in the year 2021 on successful completion of the selection process,” MHA said.

“In order to encourage the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri migrants back at their ancestral places in the Valley, the government announced the following incentives in order to help those families which were desirous of settling back at their original places of residence,” it said.

MHA further said, “Assistance of Rs 7.5 lakhs for repairing their fully or partially damaged, Rs. 2 Lakh for dilapidated/unused houses. Cash relief has also being provided to the migrants, which has been increased from time to time i.e. Rs. 500 per family in 1990 is raised to Rs. 13,000 per family Rs. 3250 per person.”

Out of a total of 6,000 posts announced under PM Packages, nearly 3,800 Kashmiri migrants have been rehabilitated directly by way of providing government employment.