Carve out smart cities for exiled Pandits: Bhat

Representatives of YAIKS at a press conference at Jammu on Saturday. -Excelsior/Rakesh
Representatives of YAIKS at a press conference at Jammu on Saturday. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 5: Maintaining that the Cabinet approval regarding creation of new 3000 posts for displaced Pandit youth is not a new thing, Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS) today said actually this is the third approval given to these 3000 posts by the State Government.
The State Cabinet has already given two approvals to the creation of these posts. First it was by the Omar Abdullah Government and then by the former Chief Minister, late Mufti Mohammed Sayed, R K Bhat president YAIKS told reporters here ,today.
He said these are nothing except politically motivated approvals and in real sense it has appeared that no Government showed sincerity in implementation of job package 6000 posts in letter and spirit after the announcement of it was made in 2008 by the then Prime Minister. In fact in last nine years the package has not been implemented, he added.
Bhat demanded that Government should announce a blue print for this package and YAIKS demands that one family should get one job and the recruitment should not be made through SSRB as this is a different kind of package for rehabilitation of an exiled community in which eligibility of candidates should be on the basis of their qualification.
He said it is high time when the Government should take steps for the rehabilitation of exiled community which has been hounded out from its homes and hearths 28 years back by announcing a smart cities for them and compensation of Rs 50 lakh for overage youth. Recalling the 20 year long struggle launched by YAIKS, Bhat said it was his organization which forcefully pursued the demand of job package and rehabilitation of youth both with Central and State Governments.  The Government’s insincerity can be gauged from the fact that hurdles were created in implementation of Cabinet decision No 143/19/2011dated 19-08-2011 for 221posts. As Government created unnecessarily hurdles in absorbing these 221 youth the YAIKS was left with no option but to knock the doors of court for justice, he added.
Seeking justice for these 221 youth as well as getting the employment package is a saga of our struggle, Bhat said adding “we continued our relentless efforts by launching dharnas and protests at Jammu, Delhi as well as Srinagar and approached the then Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, successive Home Ministers, Governors and Chief Ministers besides the MOS in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh who finally took up the issue with concerned authorities for approval.
Bhat said our struggle came to a turning point when Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs recommended the case favorably and included it in 137th Parliamentarian report.
Bhat on behalf of YAIKS also strongly condemned the threat and coercion methods applied by Minister of Education against migrant employees and said instead of trying to intimidate package employees, he should take measures for their safety and security in Valley besides addressing their other concerns.
B K Bhat and Sunil Koul vice presidents YAIKS, Manoj Handoo, general secretary, Ajay Safaya and Sanjay Ganjoo secretaries were present in the press conference.

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