Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh today (Dec 19, 2004) announced that Kashmiri Pandit students would get reservation in professional and non-professional colleges from the next academic year.

Delivering his address at the Global Meet of Kashmiri Pandits in Bangalore, he said one seat in each college would be reserved for Kashmiri Pandit students in technical, engineering and medical colleges, while there would be reservation of upto five per cent of the seats in colleges for graduate courses.

The students have to clear the Common Entrance Test for seeking admission in professional courses and the guidelines of AICTE would apply to them, he said.

Singh also said that the State would provide Rs 25 lakh for the Kashmir Bhavan in Bangalore. Former Union Minister Ananth Kumar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Rehman Khan promised Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh each respectively.

Kashmir Hindu Samithi Karnataka president R K Matoo said there were about 200 Pandit families who migrated to the city about 15 years ago.

A temple also is being built by the Pandits adjoining the Kashmir Bhavan.