3 Sites Identified for ‘Pandit Colonies’ in Kashmir

KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR

At least three sites have been identified by the Jammu and Kashmir government for setting up colonies for Kashmiri Pandits and it has been conveyed to the Union Home Ministry for assessment, media reports said.

Quoting official sources, repots said most of the land is held by private owners and the state government has approached them for outright sale of the land where it plans to construct dwelling units to rehabilitate them.

One of the identified lands is in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. It is spread over more than 200 kanals at Kanispora Johema on the outskirts of Baramulla and is close to the national highway and railway station.

Two other pieces of land have also been scouted for in central and south Kashmir but are yet to be finalised.

Home ministry officials have advised the Jammu and Kashmir government to finalise the land at the earliest to begin construction work for the colonies, a New Delhi based news gathering agency reported.

In September 2014, home minister Rajnath Singh had written a letter to the then chief minister Omar Abdullah for allocation of “suitable” land for creating dwelling units for Kashmiri Pandit families under the government’s rehabilitation scheme for migrants.

Singh had suggested that the land may be identified near places from where they migrated and also advised that this should be done in such a manner that there was adequate security in and around the area.

Notably, the proposed construction of Pandit colonies has been opposed by the separatists including octogenarian leader Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and High court bar association.

JKLF chief Yasin Malik recently in a press conference warned the government against such colony in Kashmir.