Jammu, December 7
The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s plan of making a beginning in the programme of rehabilitating Kashmiri migrants in the valley in a phased manner has evoked positive response from those who had left their villages in and around two important religious places of Khirbhawani in north Kashmir and Mattan in south Kashmir.
The Mufti had mooted the idea of lodging these migrants in clusters at Mattan and at Khirbhawani where they would continue to receive cash relief and free ration. He has announced a plan of giving job to one member of each family in the schools to be opened within the clusters. The Centre has already agreed to release Rs 10 crore for this project which will be raised by another Rs 100 crore if the experiment succeeds.
A delegation of migrants from the Mattan area had called on the Chief Minister in Jammu recently and had expressed their desire to return to their ancestral area where they could continue their traditional job of helping people offer prayers and other rituals on the banks of the sacred spring.
The PDP leadership had sent its team of party workers to Khirbhawani, 25 km north-west of Srinagar, to interact with Muslims in the area and know their reaction to the plan of bringing back migrants. The Muslims, according to official sources, have welcomed the plan. Some elderly Muslims in the Khirbhawani area had visited migrant camps in Jammu and requested Pandits to return to their ancestral villages.
The Chief Minister has a plan of converting a village or a couple of hamlets into a security zone in Mattan and Khirbhawani where the migrants can be rehabilitated. He has decided to help those who want to renovate or rebuild their houses. Initial emphasis will be to lodge these migrants in tenements which can be built in the two areas or houses of migrants can be renovated to accommodate several families for the time being.
