Jammu, Mar 31:Jammu and Kashmir BJP MLC Girdhari Lal Raina today claimed that displaced Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) in the state were “annoyed” with PDP-BJP government over its failure to address their issues.
In a letter to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, he also batted strongly for 10 demands put forth by the community, including constitution of the Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Board.
“I bring to your kind notice the disquiet and inquisitiveness coupled with annoyance of displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits in general and those who are presently residing in NCR Delhi in particular with our government,” he said.
“Exasperation has got further fillip lately because of the perceived failure and ineffectiveness of even community representatives like me to represent community aspirations and convey to the alliance government the long-pending grievances,” the MLC said.
He said that his efforts in this regard, so far, means “little to them in the absence of implementation of even the tangible decisions taken.”
“The government needs to put in place a mechanism, the Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Board, which engages the community in regular discourse to work out agreed principles of their return to Kashmir,” Raina said.
The board for KPs should be on the pattern of the Gujjar Board or Pahari Board with representatives from different districts and a chairman to look into the issues of the community, he suggested.
He also called for implementation of packages announced by the State government to provide employment.
The MLC said that “illegal encroachments of left-over properties” of KPs in Kashmir should be removed. “The eviction has been very casual,” he alleged.
“We urge the government to make every effort to get the Bill passed in the state legislature which is a long-pending demand of the community to protect temples and its properties in Kashmir,” he said.
He said that government should ensure group insurance cover for the displaced community who have been living in “pathetic condition over the period of time”.
