JKSAC demands reestablishment of Provincial rehabilitation organisation for welfare and settlement of DPS of 1947 from POK

Jammu: Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC) demanded reestablishment of Provincial rehabilitation organisation for the welfare and settlement of DPS of 1947 from POK as their rehabilitation is incomplete and insufficient even after the lapse of seven decades because of the non-serious attitude of previous dispensation of erstwhile state having some ulterior political motives and till than ex-officio PRO be allowed to function under Custodian EP Jammu.While addressing the meeting at Baspur Bangla, Tehsil R.S.Pura, Gurdev Singh President alongwith Santosh Kumar Sharma, Netar Parkash and Dwarka Nath Khajuria said that provincial  rehabilitation Organsation was constituted by the govt. in 1950 to manage the rehabilitation affairs of DPs and the same continued till the emergence of Dr. Farooq Abdullah govt. who disbanded the same in 1982 merely for political consideration, JKSAC staged strong protests and pressed hard upon the govt. to roll back the decision. Thereafter, rehabilitation cell was created in 1984 to find out solution of day-to-day matters relating to rehabilitation of DPs of 1947 from POK and since then ex-officio PRO Cell is working under the charge of Custodian EP Jammu, who is looking after the problems of 26,319 registered DPs families having in possession all kinds of records.

He further said that order no 912-JK(GAD) of 2020 dated 3-10-2020 issued by the govt. in connection with the posting and transfer of various KAS officers, wherein Additional Secy. DMRRR has been given the additional charge of ex-officio PRO Jammu, which has created chaos among the DPs of 1947. The speakers termed this order as most illogical and anti-DPs, which has been issued without proper application of mind. They urged upon Sh. Manoj K. Sinha, Lt. Governor of UT of J&K to take holistic view and review the order taking into consideration the sensitivity of the issue and PRO cell be allowed to function under Custodian EP, Jammu in the best interest of DPs having easy access to approach him for their problems.

Reacting over the said order Gurdev Singh termed this order as a bureaucratic and administrative conspiracy against DPs and asserted that such conspiracies were hatched earlier also and became the cause to delay and derail the issue resulting in their inadequate and insufficient rehabilitation. He said that attempts are also being made now to mislead the incumbent dispensation of UT of J&K as the order under reference clearly reflects the intention of higher ups in the govt. He said transfer and posting of employees/officers is a routine matter and is the prerogative of the govt. which are done to provide good governance to the people at large. But in the instant case the concerned authorities has misled the govt. to issue such an unjustified order which has put lakhs of DPs in problem. He said that issuance of this order is a deliberate attempt with aimed intention to derail the disbursement process of the package to create chaos and cause harassment to DPs.

He further said that ex-gratia relief grant of Rs 5.5 lakhs was provided to 26,319 families of DPS of 1947 from POK by Hon’ble PM Sh. Narendra Modi. By dint of commendable job done by former PRO and Deputy PRO, approximately 20,000 beneficiaries received the payment and remaining 6,000 families have yet to complete their file to avail the benefit of the relief package. But unfortunately frequent transfer of PROs and now this order has put the remaining DPs in the quagmire of chaos and confusion as they shall have to run to secretariat to get approval to obtain the certified copies of the mandatory records from ex-officio PRO, required to complete their files, which would be entirely difficult particularly for the DPs residing n the far-flung areas of district Poonch, Kathua, Rajouri as well as Jammu under the present security senario. He said that even if some mechanism is adopted by the govt. to run the show, even than it would be difficult for the PRO official to function smoothly as they will remain shuttling between PRO office and Secretariat which will hamper and affect the expiditation of the disbursement. The whole function of PRO office has come to stand-still and there is lot of resentment among DPs and moreover, approved beneficiaries have not received the payment from the last 8 months. He made a humble appeal to the Hon’ble Governor to review the order and function of the PRO be restored with Custodian EP Jammu till the provincial rehabilitation organization is constituted/reestablished again to mitigate the suffering of DPs.