New Delhi: In another attempt to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Union home ministry has decided to reimburse all funds spent by the state government for paying compensation for damages and losses to the victims of cross border firing by Pakistan.

Earlier, the state government had approached the Centre with the request to share the financial burden for paying this compensation to the victims of cross border firing. The Centre has also asked the state government to expedite the process of finalising the amount so that it can be reimbursed by the Centre.

Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh also reiterated that the J&K government should expedite the mechanism and seek prompt reimbursement of funds from the Centre. This will curb the delay and resolve the demand of the State Government about non-payment or inadequate payment of compensation to the border victims, Dr Singh further added.

The Minister also said that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh were extremely sensitive to the demands of residents of the border areas and thus promptly agreed to the request of the state government.

The home ministry will reimburse the compensation to the J&K Government as part of the Security Related Expenditure (SRE). In addition, Centre has asked the state government to pay relief and compensation for damage to houses, crop losses or livestock losses etc.