Minorities Comission to take up Sikh domicile issue with HP Govt

New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) is going to take up with the Himachal Pradesh Government the issue of domicile of Sikh families left in the state after the reorganisation of Punjab.

A number of Sikh families from Kullu and Manali had complained to the Commission that they were facing a lot of problems from the Himachal Pradesh administration in getting the domicile certificate which was in turn creating many other difficulties in their interaction with authorities.

NCM member Harcharan Josh said he was leaving for Himachal Pradesh today to discuss the problem with the state.

There are about 200 Sikh families in Kullu and 15 in Manali.

Besides the Sikh domicile problem, Mr Josh will also discuss matters relating to the decision of the state Assembly to introduce teaching of Punjabi and Urdu from class VI.

He said the state Government had decided to provide about 100 schools with the facilities for teaching of the two languages.

Mr Josh will also take up the implementation of the schemes under the 15-point programme for minorities.

During his visit to the state, the NCM member will also inuagurate a seminar on the occasion of 2555oth anniversary of Mahaparinirvan of Lord Buddha.

The programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture.

UNI