L-G’S moves raise hope in J&K business community
Lieutenant-governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha is reportedly monitoring all the forward movement of his recent assurances to the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) after meeting representatives at the Raj Bhawan. Reports said that he has instructed the administration to submit a report for a comprehensive financial package as soon as possible to be taken up with the Centre.
On the instructions of the L-G, a recently constituted committee has started meeting delegations of different wings of the business community in Kashmir, so that they submit the proposal to the Raj Bhawan for the revival of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy. It is in place to mention that advisor to the Lt. Governor, K.K. Sharma. is heading the committee and a report has to be submitted to the Raj Bhawan by 1 September. All sectors in Jammu and Kashmir had taken a hit from 5 August last year and the previous six months of Covid lockdown have added to the woes of the business community. A senior officer of the J&K administration told this reporter that departments like agriculture, horticulture, tourism and industries have been instructed to provide their inputs of how to frame the financial package for those people connected with these sectors.
“We have instructions to submit all these recommendations within days as the Raj Bhawan has asked for the report by 1 September 2020,” a senior officer looking after feedback from different departments told this reporter. The official spokesman of the UT administration said, “The committee discussed in detail suggestions received from different business organisations and industrial associations of Jammu and Kashmir.” Meanwhile, a few days ago, the Kashmir Trade Alliance released a detailed report about the impact of the fivemonth-long Covid lockdown in Kashmir valley. KTA told the media, “The five-month-long lockdown had dented the valley’s economy by Rs 21,000 crore and the total loss for the last one year is estimated at Rs 45,000 crore.” The KTA has also uploaded the report on different social media platforms while releasing it to the media in Kashmir. KTA said that it was an interim report which shows the total loss of Rs 21,320.64 crore in the last five months as a result of the lockdown. In its report, the KTA said that agriculture, horticulture and floriculture sectors suffered a loss of Rs 942.4 crore. Talking about the construction sector, the KTA said that no activities were allowed even during the relaxation period and claimed that restrictions left 500,000 people jobless in this sector.