The Ministry of Home Affairs will reimburse the Jammu and Kashmir government for compensating those affected during cross-border firing, Union minister Jitendra Singh (pictured above) announced on Monday.

The state government might consider paying people whose houses and crops had been damaged, or people whose livestock had died, Singh added. The payments can also be made to those who are displaced during such incidents and are forced to stay at relief camps, he said.

The minister urged the state government to speed up the process to claim reimbursement. This will reduce delays and help the state pay adequate compensation.

Nearly two thousand villagers in the Uri sector have sought refuge in Uri town since February 22, when Pakistan stepped up cross-border shelling. On February 24, the Indian and Pakistani armies exchanged heavy artillery fire for the first time since 2003. A number of local residents told Scroll.in that Pakistan had responded to the construction of a new Army check post in the Silikote region.