3,800 Kashmiri migrants returned to J&K for jobs under PM’s package

SRINAGAR — Nearly 3,800 Kashmiri migrants have returned to Jammu and Kashmir in the last few years and 520 of them after the abrogation of Article 370 to take up jobs under the Prime Minister’s special package, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

The Union Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy said the provision of special jobs for the Kashmiri migrant youths under the PM package is an important part for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants, who left the valley in 1990s due to militancy.

“A total of nearly 3,800 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir in the last few years to take up the PM package jobs. Post abrogation of Article 370 (August 2019), as many as 520 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir for taking up the jobs that have been provided to them under the rehabilitation package,” he said in a written reply.

Reddy said another nearly 2,000 migrant candidates are also likely to return to the Union Territory under the same policy in 2021 on successful completion of the selection process.

The minister said as per a report of the Relief Office set up in 1990 by the then Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 44,167 Kashmiri migrant families are registered who had to move out from the valley due to security concerns.

“Out of these, the count of registered Hindu migrant families is 39,782,” he said.