'Centre has no plan to set up composite townships in Kashmir'

The Union government has no plan to set up composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, according to an RTI reply.
The Union home ministry's reply came in response to a query on the matter by social worker Rohit Choudhary. Ram Krishna Swarnakar, director in the home ministry, said, "This ministry doesn't have any plan to set up composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandit migrants."
On the measures taken for the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Swarnakar said: "It is advised to you to seek the information directly from the state government of J&K".

Kashmiri Pandits have been demanding the setting up of the townships for their rehabilitation in the Valley.
The RTI reply has come to light on a day the Centre's special representative Dineshwar Sharma was to visit Jammu and Kashmir for his second trip to the state. Sharma is expected to visit migrant camps in Jammu and in the Valley, and listen to their problems.
He met Kashmiri Pandit representatives during his first visit to Kashmir earlier this month and discussed roadmap for their return and rehabilitation. The Pandits had demanded the setting up of a Welfare Board for the community.

Sharma was appointed the Centre's interlocutor on October 23 to hold talks with all stakeholders in an effort to find a lasting peace in the Valley.
Nearly 60,000 Kashmiri Pandit families migrated out of the Valley in the 1990s after militancy surged. Of these, 39,000 families now live in various camps in Jammu.