Govt extends Financial Assistance Schemes for WP, PoJK, Chhamb refugees till Mar 2026

Decision follows approval from MHABivek MathurJAMMU, Apr 5: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has extended two major financial assistance schemes for West Pakistani Refugees (WPRs) and displaced families from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Chhamb until March 31, 2026.A decision in this regard was taken following approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India.Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp As per an official order, the financial assistance scheme for 5,764 West Pakistani Refugee families, originally launched in 2018, will continue for another year-from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026-with an approved outlay of Rs 317.

02 crore.However, the Government has clearly stated that there will be no further extension of this scheme beyond the sunset date of March 31, 2026.The order said that the scheme was first notified by the Jammu and Kashmir Government under order number 57-DMRRR of 2018, following approval from the MHA.



In a fresh communication dated March 21, 2025, it said, the MHA had given further approval for the extension of this assistance under the Rehabilitation package approved in June 2018.Similarly, the scheme for the one-time settlement of displaced families from PoJK (1947) and Chhamb (1965 and 1971), which was introduced under the Prime Minister’s Development Package-2015, has also been extended for another year-from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.“This scheme will continue with a sanctioned outlay of Rs 2,000 crore,” another order said.

Originally notified under Government order number 22-DMRRR of 2017, this assistance scheme has seen multiple extensions.The latest approval from the MHA, also dated March 21, 2025, allowed it to continue until March 31, 2026.The Government has reiterated that this scheme too will not be extended beyond the new sunset date of March 31, 2026.

Pertinently, during the question hour in the current Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly session, the BJP MLA from RS Pura-Jammu South Assembly segment, Dr Narinder Singh, had raised the concerns over the exclusion of nearly 4,000 PoJK refugee families from the original relief package due to documentation issues.Dr Singh had pointed out that the Central Government had sanctioned Rs 5.5 lakh per family for 36,384 Displaced Person Families (DPFs), which included 26,319 families from 1947 PoJK and 10,065 families from the 1965 and 1971 Chhamb conflicts.

However, many families from the 1947 group were left out because they could not provide mandatory documents.He further noted that while documentation relaxations were granted to the 1965 and 1971 Chhamb displaced families, the same was not extended to PoJK families.Dr Singh had stressed that delays in relaxing these requirements have caused unnecessary hardship to the affected families and urged the Government to provide equal relief to all.

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