KPs get over Rs 320 Cr from JK’s security kitty

A big chunk of the security-related expenditure of J&K in the last one and a half years has been spent on displaced Kashmiri Pandits, according to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
In a reply to an RTI query filed by a New Delhi based RTI activist, Venkatesh Nayak, MHA said a total of Rs 320.54 crore have been spent on Kashmiri Pandits from the security-related budget.
The MHA said this includes Rs 234.74 crore spent as cash assistance and relief material on Kashmiri Pandits from March 2013 to October 2014.
This includes Rs 154.16 crore from April 2013 to March 2014 and Rs 80.58 crore from April 2014 to October 2014.
The MHA said besides the cash assistance and relief material, a total of Rs 81.70 crore was also spent on the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits under the Prime Minister’s package.
This includes Rs 52.614 crore from April 2013 to March 2014 and Rs 29.09 crore from April 2014 to October 2014.
The MHA said a total of Rs 4.10 crore was also spent on the rehabilitation of the widows and orphans of the Kashmiri Pandits.
This includes Rs 2.95 crore from April 2013 to March 2014 and Rs 1.15 crore from April2014 to October 2014.
Talking to Rising Kashmir over phone from New Delhi, the RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak who works for Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said he was interested in promoting transparency across India and Commonwealth countries.
Nayak, who has been working on people’s access to information and justice, was involved with the Right to Information Act drafting and passing of J&K RTI Act since 2005.
He has been associated with J&K RTI Movement in Kashmir and Sangarsh RTI Movement in Jammu.
Nayak also did the analysis of decisions of J&K State Information Commission for 2013 and presented the preliminary findings at a conference in the University of Kashmir on November 26 and 27, 2014.
The MHA said that between April 2013 and March 2014, the relief to Kashmiri Pandits included cash assistance of Rs 131.66 crore, free ration of Rs 8.49 crore, civic amenities of Rs 1.12 crore, improvement in infrastructure of Rs 2.66 crore, and construction of two-room tenements of Rs 10.22 crore.
The ministry said the relief to Kashmiri Pandits between April 2014 to October 2014 included cash assistance of Rs 69.10 crore, free ration worth Rs 4.62 crore, civic amenities of Rs 43.27 lakh, improvement of infrastructure worth Rs 67.19 lakkh and construction of two-room tenements worth Rs 5.76 crore.
MHA said this was a third of the total security-related expenditure spent on both police and relief and rehabilitation taken together.