A deputation of 'West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee', led by its president, Labha Ram Gandhi, called on Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh, on Saturday, to seek his intervention for redressal of their long pending grievances.
Gandhi said they have great expectations from the present government in Jammu and Kashmir.
The deputation also handed over a detailed memorandum to Dr. Singh.
Singh gave them a patient hearing and said that both the Centre and the state government are committed to ensuring that West Pakistan refugees get all the benefits and privileges which they have been denied over the last six decades.
He said the government will also explore the feasibility of setting up an exclusive nodal cell or welfare board for dealing with issues related to refugees.
Referring to different groups of refugees in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said, besides the West Pakistan refugees, the state also has refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, displaced Kashmiri Pandits and refugees uprooted in the aftermath of Indo-Pak wars and victims of terrorism.
He said that each of these groups of displaced people had their peculiar grievances and requirements, and the government is working on a plan to address these respective issues separately.