Govt okays Rs 2,000 crore development package for PoK refugees
New Delhi: A Rs 2,000 crore development package for displaced people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) living in the country was on Wednesday approved by the government.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the home ministry's proposal to provide enhanced financial aid to 36,384 families, who are mostly living in Jammu region after their displacement from PoK after Independence.
Each of these families will get around Rs 5.5 lakh as aid, a senior official said.
The refugees from West Pakistan, mostly from PoK, settled in different areas of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. However, they are not permanent residents of the state in terms of Jammu & Kashmir constitution.
Some of the families were displaced during Partition in 1947, and others during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan.