Forced to live in ghettos, Pandit employees in Valley losing hope

Sumit Hakhoo 

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 28

With the separatists managing to scuttle Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious “composite townships” for resettlement of displaced Kashmir Hindus and the state government stopping the project to expand the living space at transit camps, the community youth who had shifted to the Valley under the employment package have lost hope of leaving the “ghettoised dwellings”.

Most of the 1,500 employees, including women, are living in segregated clusters since 2010, when the then UPA government implemented special employment package for Pandits — first of its kind since the exodus of 3.50 lakh people from the Valley after eruption of militancy in 1990.

Up to four employees share a two-bedroom cluster with no space for their families.

Transit accommodations were constructed during the previous stint of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister (2002-05) at Veesu (Anantnag), Hawal and Baramulla. Multi-storey flats were built at Sheikhpora, Budgam. But no progress has been made since then to improve the living conditions at these facilities.

The Pandit youth had “risked everything for a job” and “opportunity to start life afresh” in their native land. However, the daily trauma of living away from their families is compounded by poor infrastructure at these cramped cluster units lacking regular water and power supply and the feeling of being “abandoned” by the government and representative organisations of the community, who seldom talk about their plight.

“This is a democratic prison. We are living in slum-like conditions while politics is being played over our plight. We cannot bring our families here as there is no space. More than four employees live in one cluster,” said Sandeep Kachroo, who lives at the Vessu camp.

The youth say the resettlement cannot remain confined to a ring-fenced ghetto and they want to live as citizens of Kashmir, their ancient homeland.

But with the prevailing security scenario, they also avoid living in rented accommodations in the surrounding Muslim villages.

The Pandit youth find the de facto segregated colonies guarded round the clock by security forces stifling and irksome. Further, a generation of Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits has grown up without knowing each other and the community feels alien in the fast-changing landscape of villages, which are getting “Islamised”.

Commissioner Secretary, Relief and Rehabilitation, Dheeraj Gupta said the government did not have any major expansion plan for clusters, but basic facilities were being strengthened.

“The government is making every effort to streamline water and power supply and ensure Pandit employees don’t suffer. Chief Minister  Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is personally monitoring the issues of migrants,” said Gupta.

Those working in the Valley, however, feel that the representative organisations in Jammu have disowned them. “They see us with contempt and feel it’s our karma to suffer. We chose to move back for employment and start life afresh after spending traumatic years in migrant camps in Jammu and have every right to live a dignified life,” said Vicky Sharma.

Although the PDP and the BJP had agreed in principle to examine rehabilitation and employment package announced by the UPA government in 2008, so far no agreement has been reached on the approach to be adopted to assess the matter.