A parliamentary standing committee on Friday asked the Centre to speed up the construction work of transit accommodation for Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley.

An estimated 76,000 Kashmiri Pandit families had left the Kashmir valley in the 1990s after prominent members of the community were targeted and killed by militants. In 2015, the Union government had announced the construction of 6,000 accommodation units for Kashmiri Pandits to return to the Kashmir valley, according to The Indian Express.

Advertisement

On Friday, the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, led by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, pointed out that the construction process had been slow.

“The Committee notes that in total, around 2,200 Transit Accommodation Units will be available for Kashmir Migrants in the near future,” the committee said. “However, it is observed that process of constructions of more than 50% is still at nascent stage.”

It said that 849 accommodation units had been constructed, while 176 were about to be completed. “Construction of 1,200 units is under execution,” the committee said. “Tenders have been floated/ work is going on for 288 Units. Land has been identified/ DPRs [detailed project reports] have been vetted/ DPRs are under preparation for 3,487 units.”

Advertisement

The committee suggested that the besides expediting the process, the government monitor it regularly.

“The Committee, therefore, reiterates its recommendation that a time frame may be fixed for completion of the construction of the remaining units,” it said. “The Committee would like to be apprised about the status in the matter.”

The Centre, in a written response in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of the Parliament in March, had said that 721 dwelling units had been constructed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam, Kulgam, Kupwara, Anantnag and Pulwama districts. Another 1,488 units were under construction and land had been identified for about 2,444 units, it had said.