1,200 Pandit families were accommodated in small transit locations in Kashmir several years ago.

On the 27th anniversary of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly unanimously passed a resolution for creating a conducive atmosphere for their return.The Mehbooba Mufti government plans to announce 3,000 fresh jobs for settling the Pandits in the valley and promise transit colonies for them. The BJP-PDP government first made the announcement for transit colonies in 2014, drawing sharp criticism from separatists."We are saying that accommodation must be created for them in Kashmir Valley. The government has identified the places... those colonies and quarters will be transit in nature," said Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh."All the people who migrated from the Valley over the last 27 years fearing for their lives... it should be our endeavor that such conditions are not repeated and they are able to return home," said former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.Successive governments at the Centre and the state have been saying they want the Pandits back in Kashmir. But the Pandits claim that there is still no concrete time-bound plan for their return.Seven years ago, 1,200 Pandit families were accommodated in small transit locations in the Kashmir valley. They had been recruited under Prime Minister's special employment package and are posted in Kashmir since 2009.

But the families allege that there is a lack of facilities at the transit camps and indifference by the government."On the ground, the rehabilitation plan has failed. It is just an eyewash by the government," said Sanjay Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit residing in Migrant Colony Kashmir.