Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 22

The Union Home Ministry has asked the J&K Government to treat all border dwellers, be they near the International Border or the Line of Control, equally and provide them the same benefits.Residents of the International Border are now likely to get the 3 per cent reservation benefit like their counterparts living near the LoC. This move comes after the Union Home Ministry’s expert panel visited the state to study problems of border residents.Highly placed sources said the issue of extending reservation to all border residents was discussed and agreed to during Tuesday’s meeting of the PDP-BJP coalition committee.“People residing near the LoC as well as the International Border are equally affected by the firing from across the border and deserve equal treatment but unfortunately residents near the International Border are not getting benefits such as reservation. So, it was decided at the meeting that the discrimination must end,” said Narinder Singh, BJP’s representative in the coordination committee. The issue was also effectively presented before the Central expert panel that visited Jammu earlier this month.“During the recent visit of the expert panel to the state, the disparities between the facilities to the residents of International Border and Line of Control were brought to its notice,” a source said.On November 10 and 11, the panel, headed by Special Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Rina Mitra, had visited border areas.200 villages denied quota benefit

• Jammu shares with Pakistan 198-km-long International Border, which runs from Paharpur on the Kathua-Punjab border to the Chicken’s Neck area of Akhnoor, and 224.5-km Line of Control
• 285 villages of Rajouri, Nowshera, Mendhar, Haveli, Kupwara and Akhnoor near the LoC are given benefits under the J&K Reservation Act, 2004. In contrast, inhabitants of nearly 200 villages near the International Border are denied reservation benefits