PoJK DPs-1st unsung victims of Pakistani Atrocities: Keep count of their assets like that of Evacuee properties?

* 5,300 PoJK DP families staying outside paid ex-gratia of Rs 3,500, but denied Rs 5.5 Lakh OTS Why?
* 4 Narendra Modi can open ‘Channels’ but boats have to be peddled by his Colleagues & Bureaucracy
* There has been no regular Count of 1947 PoJK DPs, still Bureaucracy gives number as total 31,619 Families
* Vacation of PoJK: Reply to RS Q. NO. 2957 21-03- 2018:
* India is committed under Simla Agreement & Lahore Declaration for peaceful & bilateral discussions

DAYA SAGAR

The POJK DPs 1947 were not treated as refugees from Pakistan and hence were not paid any claims for the properties left back in POJK in terms of the policy of the government of India to arrange their return to their hearths by getting the areas vacated by Pakistan. One hundred eighty third report on problems being faced by refugees and displaced persons in J&K was presented to Rajya Sabha on 22nd December, 2014 and also laid on the table of Lok Sabha on 22nd December 2014 too at Para 16 of report says : 1. The Committee agreed with the stand of Ministry of supply & Rehabilitation, ministry of External affairs and Ministry of Law/ Justice/ Company affairs as regards the stand taken against registration property claims for payment of compensation for the properties left behind in POK but the Committee recommended to Ministry of supply and rehabilitation ( department of rehabilitation) to consider and implement the alternative proposal that a lump sum grant on the pattern of monetary assistance is paid.

As per note furnished by Ministry of Supply and Rehabilitation ( Department of Rehabilitation ) GOI in 1978 to Rajya Sabha Committee on petitions as per Appendix II of the report { Sixty Second report dated 11-04-1980 of the Committee on Petitions of Rajya Sabha headed by Sh. Bipinpal Das ( MP) presented in Rajya Sabha on 13-06-1980.} the matter regarding registration of claims for the properties left by ]displaced persons in 1947 in Pak occupied areas of Jammu & Kashmir had been considered by the Government in consultation with the concerned ministries and the main objections to the proposal were .’POK’ is a part of India but it is under the illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan hence any registration of claims/ losses of the ‘refugees’ from POK would certainly bring in the question of possibility of eventual compensation for the properties left in POK area. There was also references in report like saying that , so the State Government had accordingly suggested that in lieu of non registration of losses of the displaced persons from POK the GOI might provide funds in some other form.
It was also mentioned the report that as per information provided by government to Committee on Petitions that to start with the Joint Rehabilitation Board headed by the then Major General Tara Singh Bal that had also 13 members from J&K State Government had decided/ assessed to allot to DPs, land measuring upto 12 acres Abi/ 18 acres Khushkee which can surely reflect the genuine quantum of compensation that the agricultural families deserved at that time . No doubt the scales were later changed which was surely due to non availability of state lands. Later Cabinet Order No. 578-C sanctioning rules for allotment of agricultural land in respect of displace persons and locals was issued. which provided allotment of land as per strength of each family keeping the maximum limit at 4 acres abi / 6 acres khushkee and minimum 2 acres Abi/ 3 acres Khushkee.
Not only that even the information compiled by bureaucracy at occasions for government for sharing with Parliament / committees has at occasions been not that exacting / matching that factual and have remained unattended even by the stake holders like has been the case of replies given on 11th February, 2020/Magha 22, 1941 (SAKA) to unstarred Lok Sabha Q . No- 1485 (Displaced People From POJK ) from Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore where in reply Minister of State in Ministry of Home Affairs (G. Kishan Reddy) based on the information provided to him by the bureaucracy had said that as per the Registration records maintained with the Provincial Rehabilitation Officer (PRO), Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) both the Government of India and the Government of Jammu & Kashmir have been providing several relief/rehabilitation packages from time to time to the displaced families of POJK & Chhamb. For the displaced families of 1947 which stayed in J&K, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir had allotted agricultural land ranging from 4 to 8 acres per family. Those who settled in urban areas were provided plots/quarters besides cash ex-gratia of Rs. 3500/- per family. For those families which did not get land allotted as per prescribed scales, cash compensation was sanctioned by Government `Others were allotted land /plot/quarter as per fixed scale for their rehabilitation. The displaced families which did not settle in Jammu & Kashmir were paid an ex-gratia of Rs. 3500/- per family at the time of their registration .……In order to mitigate the hardships of the displaced families, the Government of India under the Prime Minister’s Development Package-2015, approved a rehabilitation package with an outlay of Rs. 2000 crores on 22nd December, 2016. Under the package, financial assistance of Rs. 5.5 lakhs per family (Central share is Rs.5,49,692/-and the State share is Rs. 308/-) is provided to the 36,384 displaced families of POJK and Chhamb, which settled in Jammu & Kashmir. …… In September, 2019, the Government of India has further approved the inclusion of those displaced families of PoJK, out of 5,300 families, who initially moved out of Jammu and Kashmir, but later on returned and settled in Jammu and Kashmir. Such families will also be eligible for the financial assistance of Rs. 5.5 lakh per family ….”
To be brief on the other hand in case a family had left back in POJK property worth Rs.1000 in 1947 that money by banking standards would have become with 10% per annum interest & quarterly compounding worth Rs.10.24 Lakh in 2017 and with 12% interest even in 2013 as Rs.20,56,000/.The Sharnarthi Action Committee demanded assistance in proportion to the assets left behind by individual families and not at some arbitrary uniform rate to all.No registration of POJK DPs was done in general and numbers that are quoted by Government are of only those who belonged to particular categories and hence there were many families who had not applied and are today nowhere listed in government records. Similarly there are some families who had applied but their applications were not found eligible in view of not being from eligible categories and hence were not paid any ex gratia / given any land/ given any one room house.
So, there are some families who were neither paid claims for their assets left behind nor were they paid any token ex gratia hence where ever government has deposed to committees that government has adequately provided assistance to all POJK DPs 1947 families has been surely not correct.
Surely the popular governments in the State / Centre have remained not properly informed about the real status / needs of these 1st victims of Pakistani designs because there has so far been no dedicated department in J&K for attending to their issues and the present arrangement in provincial rehabilitation officer is surely under equipped keeping in view the infrastructure provided and the scope of the duties assigned.
So there is a must need for putting up a regular dedicated department for POJK DPs who might have grown to over 150000 families by this time. In case for technical reasons government cannot compensate them in the shape of claims for their left behind properties, fair enough, but government should not have any problem in documenting the left behind properties of the 1947 POJK DPs ( after calling details from these families) in a dedicated department as has the government kept the record of the evacuee properties of those who migrated from J&K to Pakistan in 1947. Otherwise many beyond third generation may not be able to draw the details.

(The author is a Sr Journalist / Analyst Jammu & Kashmir Affairs [email protected]).