Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath (File) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday distributed letters of allotment of agricultural and residential plots on lease to 63 displaced Bengali Hindu families who had migrated from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) in 1970. They were also given letters for the allotment of houses under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana.
“The long wait of 38 years is over. In 1970, about 407 families came to India from East Pakistan. They were given jobs in a cotton mill in Hastinapur. The cotton mill was shut down in 1984. After that, some families were resettled in different parts of the country, but 65 families kept waiting for their resettlement since then,” the chief minister said at a program organised by the Revenue Department at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow.
Out of the 65 families, 63 have survived till day. They will be rehabilitated in Rasulabad area of Kanpur Dehat district.
“After coming to power, our government worked on an action plan for the rehabilitation of the remaining 63 families who have been given two acres of land for farming and 200 square metres plot for housing. Along with this, Rs 1.20 lakh will be provided for the construction of houses under the Mukhya Mantri Awaas Yojana,” CM said.
The Chief Minister also directed the Revenue Department to develop the area where the families will be rehabilitated
as a smart village with facilities of education, hospital, drinking water, community centre, among others.
Accusing the previous governments of being “insensitive” towards their rehabilitation, Adityanath said that in his first term his government collected information about those families who had migrated to UP from Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and found that they were living a nomadic life.
Ajay Roy (26), one of the recipients of the allotment, said that after 65 families came to India in 1970, they were provided employment at a cotton mill in Hastinapur in Meerut district. “After the closure of the mill in 1984, my father started working as a labourer to feed the family. I am pursuing graduation but I also work as a labourer to help the family,” Roy said. He accompanied Anil Biswas (72) who has been representing the refugee families in meetings with the government.
Biswas said that his family members also work as labourers.
Roy said that the biggest problem for him and other refugee families was that they were not being issued caste certificates in Uttar Pradesh.
“Officers say that our caste has not been decided and so they cannot issue the certificate. If we get the caste certificate, that will help us in getting jobs. Other refugees who were rehabilitated in other states have been issued caste certificates there,” he said.
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