BJP seeks rehab package for Kashmiri Pandits

Even as it faced allegations of communalising the Kashmir issue, the BJP demanded a proper rehabilitation package for the Kashmiri Pandits that would include jobs and homes.

Even as it faced allegations of communalising the Kashmir issue, the BJP demanded a proper rehabilitation package for the Kashmiri Pandits that would include jobs and homes. Party members along with the BJP, BJD and the Shiv Sena staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha describing the Home Minister8217;s reply as unsatisfactory.

After Home Minister Shivraj Patil detailed the steps taken by the government to support the Kashmiri Pandits, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP8217;s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha said the Pandits had been forced to leave the Valley. He also brought up the Gujarat issue claiming that while it was being termed as a 8220;genocide8221;, no one had been forced to migrate from the state after the riots there.

Referring to thde Prime Minister8217;s recent speech, the BJP leader suggested that the Kashmiri Pandits be given preferential treatment as they were a minority in the Valley. 8220;As the Kashmiri Pandits are a minority will they get the benefit of minorities which the Prime Minister said should have the first right to resources,8221; he said.

According to him, there were neither jobs nor proper shelter for them in the Valley. 8220;The healing touch policy has not touched the victims of terrorism. There should be a proper budget allocation for them and more than 10,000 Kashmiri Pandits who are unemployed should be given jobs.8221; The Home Minister, while admitting there was scope for improvement in the facilities made available, asked the members to stick to facts. 8220;Please stick to the facts when you raise issues. Don8217;t distort facts on religious lines,8221; Patil said.

Real estate regulator demanded

Congress MP Rajiv Shukla demanded that the government take urgent measures to regulate the real estate sector, which is being manipulated by 8220;opportunists and speculators8221;. Raising the issue as a special mention in the Rajya Sabha, Shukla said the 8220;sudden and shocking rise in property prices across India,8221; is a matter of concern. 8220;It is said that one can sell his flat in Delhi or Mumbai and buy a bungalow in London, New York or Los Angeles.8221;

200 flats for Kashmiri migrants

The Centre has approved Rs 20 crore for the construction of 200 two-bedroom flats for migrants, who fled the Kashmir Valley following insurgency, at Budgam. A grant of Rs 10 crore has also been given to the state government for renovation of houses and shrines at Kheer Bhavani and Mattan. In response to a calling attention notice in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Shivraj Patil further said that 5,242 two-room tenements have been planned for all families residing at camps in Jammu under the Prime Minister8217;s Reconstruction Plan for the state.