Centre releases Rs 19 cr for militancy victims in J and K

Srinagar, Oct 31 (UNI) The Centre has released Rs 19 crore for the militancy orphan victims in the Jammu and Kashmir where Governor N N Vohra has ordered time-bound disbursement of scholarships among these victims.

Mr Vohra, chairing the 5th Govering Council meeting of the Council for Rehabilitation of Militancy Victims (CRMV), here this morning, said the Centre has released Rs 19 crore for the purpose of disbursement among the victims of two decade long militancy in the state.

However, he directed the officials to disburse the scholarship among the identified militancy victim oprhans by November 30.

Mr Vohra directed Divisional Commissioners of the Jammu region and Kashmir valley to personally monitor the payment of scholarships to the beneficiaries.

He directed the opening of bank accounts for each of the beneficiaries for hassle-free disbursement of the financial assistance.

Mr Vohra called for a thorough case-study to be conducted, through identified voluntary organisation, to assess the impact of the rehabilitation measures taken since the inception of the Council in 1996.

On the basis of the findings of such a study, the existing policy and procedure could be suitably modified for effectively ensuring the welfare and empowerment of the victims.

He also stressed the need for enhancing the vocational training of widows, to enable them to become economically self-reliant.

In this context, he referred to the successful experience of the Self-Help Groups which are functioning in several states for promoting women empowerment and indicated that this pattern could be adopted in the case of militancy victim widows as well.

He particularly referred to the excellent work being done by several NGOs in Gujarat in this sphere.

The Governor urged the non-official members of the Council to find time to undertake tours to certain districts for gaining first hand knowledge about the impact of the various schemes on the status of militancy victims.

He also asked the Social Welfare Department to bring out, booklets District-wise, which give complete information about the identified victims and the financial assistance being provided to them under various schemes tailored for their rehabilitation.

UNI BAS AHW RSA RK1316