38,119 families migrated from Valley in 20 years: J-K Govt.

Jammu, March 23 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla on Tuesday said 38,119 families comprising 34,202 Kashmiri Pandits families, 2,168 Muslim families and 1,749 Sikh families, migrated from the Valley due to the disturbed condition.

Replying to a question, during the Question Hour, in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Mr. Bhalla said that since 1989, 219 Kashmiri Pandits have been killed and ex-gratia rupees 100,000 each has been disbursed among the next of kin of them. Besides, he said an amount of Rs 39,64,91838 has been paid as compensation to the Kashmiri Pandits, whose properties were damaged since the eruption of militancy.

Mr. Bhalla also informed the House that 808 Kashmir Pandit families, comprising 3445 souls are still living in the Valley.

Responding to a supplementary by Ch. Zulfikar Ali, the Minister informed the House that the Government has put a case with the Centre for giving relief to the migrants of Rajouri and Poonch at par with the migrants of the Kashmir Valley.

Mr. M.Y. Tarigami, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, Er Abdul Rashid and Hakim Mohammad Yasin also raised supplementary on the question. (ANI)