Jammu, 07 April (H.S.): A delegation of the All Jammu and Kashmir Jatt Sabha today called on the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and submitted a memorandum of demands.

The delegation was led by the president of the Sabha and former Minister, S Manjit Singh.

Manjit Singh, while submitting the memorandum, demanded that a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the first Maharaja of Greater Punjab and parts of Jammu and Kashmir, be installed in Jammu district in his memory.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been strongly influenced by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his welfare-oriented and public-friendly rule in Punjab and later in Jammu and Kashmir,” the memorandum reads.

The delegation urged the CM to provide separate hostel facilities for Jatt students, both boys and girls, to enable them to pursue higher education in Jammu.

It stated that many students from areas ranging from Kathua to Poonch lack proper accommodation facilities in Jammu.

The provision of hostels, along with scholarships for economically weaker students who secure good marks, would encourage them to pursue higher education.

The memorandum further stated that the Government should take up the long-pending demand of the Jatt community for the grant of Other Backward Class (OBC) status in Central Government jobs and professional educational institutions.

The Jatt Sabha also demanded ownership rights for refugees and displaced persons of 1965 and 1971, including Chhamb displaced persons, over the land allotted to them.

It urged the Government to simplify procedures to facilitate the grant of proprietary rights once the process is initiated.

The Sabha further demanded the release of the full rehabilitation package for displaced persons, noting that only Rs 5.5 lakh has been released so far after the package was sanctioned by the previous Government.

It requested the Jammu and Kashmir Government to take up the matter with the Central Government.

Lastly, the Sabha demanded that Punjabi be granted official language status in Jammu and Kashmir and be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar