22 Feb.1994 India Parliament Demand that ‘Pakistan must vacate POJK’ is unexecuted even after 29 Yrs
Iron is Hot- PAK is weak – UNSC has failed to get POJK vacated – time for NDA-III to strike for POJK
Since not paid Claims for Properties Displaced POJK DPs 1947 request for getting vacated POJK areas
POJK DPs ask how long they will have to wait for their return to ‘parental’ hearths in POJK?
DAYA SAGAR
The J&K Cabinet , when initiated some action , on 16th July 2014 could not even discuss to conclusion the compensation/ grants /claims proposals for 1947 POJK DPs since some ministers from Congress wanted to take the issue in more real and rational manner instead of simply rushing through ( may be more in view of the then forth coming Nov- December 2014 assembly election) with ‘totally’ unrealistic proposals like that of one time settlement amount on uniform basis to all POJK DPs. Later on same proposals were sent by state government to Ministry of Home Affairs GOI under D.O. letter No. Rev/Rehab/08/2011 dated 20-10-2014 for REHABILITATION – FOR ONE TIME FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE CLAIMS OF THE POJK DISPLACED PERSONS OF 1947 AND CHAMB DISPLACED PERSONS 1965/1971 recommending to GOI there in among other socio economic supports also payment of Rs. 25 Lac per family as one time settlement . Recommending same amount as final settlement for all was totally irrational and unfair since (i) there were many families who had not been offered/ given even ex gratia of Rs.3500 in1960s and (ii) there might have been some families who might have claim values at 1947 prices of even a Lakh of rupees and some of value as low as only Rs 5000. To quote one Shri Chiter Sen Bahri could reach India along with his sons Bhushan Prakash and Om Prakash where as his father Uttam Chand Bahri, his wife and one son were killed by raiders while they were fleeing from Mirpur on 25-11-1947. As per the family of Uttam Chand Bahri they had two mammoth havelies,4 houses and 8 shops along with some joint property in Mirpur and Jehlum . Besides the family was the premier business house of the area. Imagine what would be the worth of their property today. In cities like Jammu where a land that was just worth Rs.1000 in 1947 is not less than Rs.150 Lac to Rs.200 Lac in 2014. Would it be a truthful act to recommend to GOI in 2014 to pay just Rs.25 Lac as one time settlement to the family of Lt Uttam Chand Bahri, surely not. So, it was unfair even for NC & Congress government to play political games with the unfortunate families just keeping an eye on the assembly elections due in Oct/ November 2014.
The year 2014 proposal note of J&K Government mentioned that in 1947 around 31619 families from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir crossed to this side of ‘border’ and out of these 26319 families settled in J&K where as 5300 families subsequently opted to settle in other parts of the country.
What to talk of rationally taking the issues of 1947 POJK DPs with compassion, it was so painful that even those 1947 POJK DPs whose information is available with the government ( included in 31619 families) but are staying in states other than J&K had been unfairly excluded from the definition of 1947 DPs from POJK for the purposes of one time settlement amount of Rs.25 Lakh / 1947 family wrongly taking lines from an Act of J&K Legislature passed in 1971 {The Jammu and Kashmir Displaced Persons ( Permanent Settlement ) Act 1971 Act No X of 1971 }. The proposals also made mention of 10065 displaced persons from Chhamb area as a result of in 1965/ 1971 Indo Pak conflicts/ wars thereby making the total number of affected families under immediate reference as 41684 but for one time settlement excluded 5300 families and sent proposals to GOI only for total cash implication of Rs.9096 Cr and 36384 families and not 41684 as beneficiaries ( 26319 POJK DPs 1947 families plus 10065 1965/71 Chamb Displaced families ) .
GOI vide D.O. Letter no :31/1/2011R&SO( Part-II) Dated 07-11-2014 and Letter no :31/1/2011R&SO( Part-II) Dated 21-11-2014 wanted some clarifications / more information but the state government could not provide the replies pointedly to the information that same could be compiled only through a regular exercise by a regular department but there was no regular department there in place to look after the POJK DPs issues. With the conditions prevailing it was extremely difficult to retrieve the old information even on numbers from the incomplete records that had been all these years handled by only ex officio officials at junior levels in the office of Custodian Evacuee Property. In the meantime a Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs even at Para 3.2.4.3 of one hundred eighty third report problems being faced by refugees and displaced persons in J&K (presented to Rajya Sabha on 22nd December, 2014) (laid on the table of Lok Sabha on 22nd December, 2014 said that The Committee desires that one time compensation of Rs. 30 Lakh per family of 1947 times be paid and not 2 Lakh ( although even that was not fair to treat all financially equal.
Anyhow finally in 2016 approval of GOI was conveyed to Chief Secretary JK Government by Director Rehabilitation vide No 31/01/2011-R&SO dated 22 Dec 2016 of Ministry of Home Affairs FFR Division in response to JK Government letter no R&R -Rehab/CSC /19/2015 dated 16-06-2016 for providing central assistance of Rs 2000 cr for 36384 displaced families from PoJK of 1947 and Chhamb displaced persons of 1965 and 1971 as one time settlement under Prime Minister Development Package, 2015 where under central assistance of only Rs 5,49,562 per family was to be distributed through benefit transfer to eligible families by central government directly and the State Government will transfer state share of Rs.308 per family through DBT. Just Rs.5.5. Lakh even to a family like that of “Uttam Chand Bahri” whose family tells that they had not been paid even Rs.3500 ex gratia in 1960s for which even Rs.30 Lakh would have been too less.
To be continued.
(The author is a Sr Journalist &
analyst of J&K Affairs. dayasagr45@yahoo.com).