J&K: Nearly 17 Lakh Domicile Certificates Issued Till September 14; Congress Demands White Paper

Data revealed by the government says that 16.79 Lakh certificates have been issued to residents till September 14. As per the figures, a total of 21,13,879 applied for the issuance of the certificate.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

Srinagar: The J&K government has issued nearly 17 lakh domicile certificates across twenty districts of the Jammu and Kashmir union territory in a little over 2 months, despite the Covid-19 lockdown.  However, as the majority of the certificates have been issued in the Jammu region, politics over the issue has also started to heat up. Former union minister and senior Congress leader, Saif-ud-Din Soz while terming it as alarming demanded a white paper on the issuance of the Domicile certificates said that J&K UT Administration has issued over 17 lakh Domicile Certificates, approximately, within a matter of a couple of weeks, and called it "reckless". “The most worrying aspect of this hot-haste exercise is that these certificates have been issued to those persons also, who do not possess Permanent Resident Certificates and this is what makes this whole exercise reckless,” Soz said in a statement. Data revealed by the government says that 16.79 Lakh certificates have been issued to residents till September 14, 2020. As per the figures, a total of 21,13,879 applied for the issuance of the certificate of which 16,79,520 were issued the domicile till the 15th of September. The certificates issued include over 4.16 lakh in the Kashmir division and 12.44 lakh in the Jammu division. However, officials dismissed the allegations saying that out of nearly 17 Lakh Domicile certificates issued, as many as 14.32 lakh were issued to state subject applicants and non-state subject applicants and their children, including 1.01 lakh to state subjects and 45794 to non-state subjects. ALSO READ | Handwara Police Arrest Militant Associate In Nehama Kralgund; Arms & Ammunition Recovered Only 34045 certificates have been issued to the students under (clause3) including 24455 state subjects and 9590 non-state subjects; and 18612 to Kashmiri Migrants/ children (Clause 4), officials said. According to officials, 28,468 Certificates have been issued in the Kashmir division and 1.09 lakh in Jammu division under other clauses of the New Domicile Law. The domicile certificates issued to the PRC holders include over 10.75 lakh in Jammu division and around 3.57 lakh in the Kashmir division. The government says that 21,13,879 applications were received till September 14, 2020, across the UT, and over 2.70 lakh are still pending, including 1.44 lakh in Jammu division and around 1.00 lakh in Kashmir Division. Jammu has topped the Domicile Certificate applications on account of West Pakistan Refugees, Gorkha Community, and Balmikis. Data reveals that the 19,571 West Pakistani Refugees, 2,424 Balmiki community members, and 765 Gorkha Community members were also issued domicile certificates till now. The process of issuing domicile certificates in the union territory was started in the last week of June 2020. The application for the issuing of the domicile certificates can be submitted in tehsildar offices, even as eligible persons can also apply online. The online facility has also been made available to avoid gatherings in view of Covid threat. WATCH | J&K, Ladakh and north-eastern states being watched by China