The government had fixed a quota of 30 Jammu and Kashmir dwellers who could travel every fortnight to meet their relatives across in PoK through the Chakan-da-Bagh crossing point. Now the quota has been doubled to 60 divided family members, official sources said today.
This has been done to cope with the increasing number of civilians who wish to meet their families across the border. Over 4000 applications of Jammu and Kashmir residents are pending with passport offices for cross-border travel to PoK, they said, adding that in order do away with this pend ency, the quota has been doubled.
The Prime Minister's special envoy Shyam Saran during his recent visit to Poonch had directed authorities to double the quota of civilians visiting Pok from this side through Chakan-Da-Bagh.
Tatta Pani and Chakkan-Da-Bagh were two points in Jammu region, both falling in border district of Poonch, which were opened in 2005 after the October 8 earthquake. However, Tatta Pani was closed within seven months of operations due to bad condition of road on this side of Loc while Chakkan-Da-Bagh is thrown open every fortnight.
