KNS News: Srinagar: Saturday, 11 April 2026.
The Centre's flagship Prime Minister's Package of 2009 for Kashmiri Pandits, with an outlay of Rs 1,618.40 crore, has facilitated the return of only three families since its inception, according to an RTI reply obtained by Congress leader Sanjay Sapru.
Sapru, who released the findings here on Friday
questioned the credibility of the government's rehabilitation claims, terming
the gap between allocations and outcomes as a "systemic collapse of
implementation."
"For over a decade, this package has been cited as a cornerstone of rehabilitation. The RTI reveals that only three families have actually returned under the scheme," Sapru told reporters as per Kashmir News Service (KNS).
He said that while certain components such as employment and transit accommodation show partial progress on paper, they do not amount to "dignified return.
"Rehabilitation is not a statistic. It is a lived reality, and that reality is clearly missing," he said.
The Congress leader also pointed to the absence of any institutionalised mechanism for community engagement and expressed concern over the management of migrant religious properties, including temples and shrines, which remain under bureaucratic oversight without a dedicated accountability framework.
"What we are witnessing is governance driven by optics rather than outcomes," Sapru said, urging the government to conduct a transparent audit of the scheme and formulate a time-bound roadmap for sustainable rehabilitation.
"The return of Kashmiri Pandits cannot be reduced to a symbolic narrative. It demands political will and measurable action," he added. (KNS)
The Centre's flagship Prime Minister's Package of 2009 for Kashmiri Pandits, with an outlay of Rs 1,618.40 crore, has facilitated the return of only three families since its inception, according to an RTI reply obtained by Congress leader Sanjay Sapru.
"For over a decade, this package has been cited as a cornerstone of rehabilitation. The RTI reveals that only three families have actually returned under the scheme," Sapru told reporters as per Kashmir News Service (KNS).
He said that while certain components such as employment and transit accommodation show partial progress on paper, they do not amount to "dignified return.
"Rehabilitation is not a statistic. It is a lived reality, and that reality is clearly missing," he said.
The Congress leader also pointed to the absence of any institutionalised mechanism for community engagement and expressed concern over the management of migrant religious properties, including temples and shrines, which remain under bureaucratic oversight without a dedicated accountability framework.
"What we are witnessing is governance driven by optics rather than outcomes," Sapru said, urging the government to conduct a transparent audit of the scheme and formulate a time-bound roadmap for sustainable rehabilitation.
"The return of Kashmiri Pandits cannot be reduced to a symbolic narrative. It demands political will and measurable action," he added. (KNS)
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