Sir,
This has reference to the statement of the BJP State spokesperson Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo that appeared in this paper on 9th of this month wherein he has appealed to the State Govt to release one time settlement compensation of Rs Five Lakh and Fifty Thousand to all the displaced people of POJK.
As stated by Mr Chrungoo, a delegation headed by me, apprised him about the hardship and discrimination being meted out to our group of POJK displaced families who were initially settled by GOI outside the state and subsequently returned to the State and have been living here for more than five decades. Although, we have filed our claims of payment of the compensation after the Notification issued by the then Divisional Commissioner on 17th Feb, 2017 and completed all the requisite formalities/documents as prescribed in the said notification. Initially, The PRO Jammu refused to entertain our claims merely on the ground that our families were registered outside the State. However on our few meetings with the then Divisional Commissioner (Nodal Officer) M K Bhandhari and on our satisfying him of our bonafide right for payment of compensation to our families as we are permanently settled in the State after building our own houses and are having all the prescribed documents (including PRC/State Subject), our first claim of Rs 3500 was also settled by PRO Jammu. Mr Bhandhari was quite satisfied and kind enough to process our claims for approval and register/notify the same on the approved list/website for disbursement of the compensation to the head of each family.
It is very astonishing and disturbing to state that although our cases were approved and published in the approved list, the compensation was not disbursed to our families after lapse of considerable time. Once again we approached the present Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma and apprised him of our problem who was also kind enough to appreciate our problem and took up the matter with the concerned Deptt of the State Govt. The matter was also considered by Govt Deptt of DM and RRR and the same was also discussed in a meeting on 14th July 2018 chaired by Advisor (V) and attended by different Secretaries/Commissioners etc wherein various issues were discussed and decided in the said meeting. Our case was also discussed and decided that our case can be considered subject to sufficient proof and recommendation of the Commissioner for seeking approval from SAC. Our case appeared in the sub item (iv) of item No. 17 of the Minutes of the said meeting. Inspite of lapse of one year of the said meeting, we are still waiting for receipt of compensation although in between we had several meetings with the concerned Advisor B B Vyas who every time assured us that the payment will be released to us very soon. Our delegation approached the Governor in the month of Dec 2018 who also assured us for the release of the compensation. It will not be out of place to mention that Secy Deptt of DMRRR on his seeking clarification from the Divisional Commissioner Jammu has been informed by the PRO as well as the Divisional Commissioner vide his letter dated 29.01.2019, that the number of families who were registered outside state initially but returned after sometime and whose claim is pending is 460. They have also clarified that claims received from them are genuine they satisfy all the conditions notified by GOI and Govt of J&K as such their cases can easily be accommodated as this figure is not likely to cross 700-800.
As explained we have been struggling for last two years to get the compensation but are still disappointed when others have already received the payments long back.
Jag Mohan Gupta
Rehari Colony, Jammu
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