Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced a financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family for refugees from West Pakistan who are settled in Jammu-Kashmir.

“We have decided to give financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family for West Pakistan Refugees settled in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Nearly 5764 families will be benefitted from this decision,” he said at a press conference on Friday following a visit to the frontier districts of Kupwara and RS Pura.

He said that the government has decided to raise the relief given to migrant families by 30 per cent from the Rs 10,000 given in 2015.

Singh also interacted with the locals living near border areas.

The Home Minister said that his Ministry has sanctioned two new women battalions for J-K police – one for Kashmir Division and another for Jammu Division.

“This will provide direct employment to nearly 2000 women of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Singh said that his Ministry has revisited the scheme of giving Rs 5 lakhs for the persons killed during Cross Border Firing and Ceasefire Violations.

“Now this amount of Rs 5 lakhs will be directly credited to the account of the next of kin and all conditions relating to fixed deposit have been removed,” the Home Minister said.

Kupwara is listed among the 115 inspirational districts where the central government has vowed to lay “special emphasis” on the overall development to fight poverty and backwardness.

Accompanied by Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, the Home Minister met local delegations and people living in border areas of the district on the second day of his two-day visit to the state.

Read More: Rajnath Singh visits Kupwara, meets famlies living along border

He also visited the district police lines and paid tributes to the martyrs of Jammu-Kashmir police force.

Hours before Singh’s visit to the border district, militants attacked security forces in Kupwara.

There was a brief exchange of fire between militants and the army in Langate area of Kupwara — around 100 km north of Srinagar. No casualties were reported.

The site of the attack was around 20 km from Kupwara town where the Singh, Mufti and Jitendra Singh met people from the border district amid elaborate security arrangements.

Security forces cordoned off the area as the attackers escaped.