Jammu, Sept 17: A joint meeting of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCI) Jammu and the Federation of Industries Jammu (FOIJ) was convened today at the Association of Industries office in Gangyal to discuss the worsening challenges confronting the industrial sector in the region. The meeting was chaired by Sh. Arun Gupta, President of CCI, along with FOIJ Chairman Sh. Varinder Jain and Co-Chairman Sh. Lalit Mahajan, Sh. S.C. Dutta, Sh. Jatinder Aul, and Sh. Ajit Bawa.
The participants expressed deep resentment over the recent visit of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, led by its Chairperson, Sh. Dola Sen and the Members of Parliament, Smt. Renkua Chowdhury, Sh. Yusuf Pathan, Sh. Shiv Pal Singh Patel, Sh. Sadanand Shet Tanavade, and Sh. Prasun Banerjee. The committee, during its tour of the Union Territory, chose to confine its interactions to the Kashmir Valley, entirely bypassing Jammu, despite the fact that a majority of the region’s industrial units are based here.
Industry leaders questioned the repeated neglect of Jammu during such high-level visits, pointing out that this has been a consistent pattern for years. “We fail to understand why Jammu continues to be deliberately ignored. Most of the manufacturing units are located here, and they are struggling for survival. Yet, our grievances are never heard,” the members observed.
The meeting highlighted that Jammu’s industrial units are facing an existential crisis due to the absence of proper incentives, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient government support. Many units, they warned, are on the brink of closure, which would not only devastate local entrepreneurs but also cause widespread job losses in the region.
The industry representatives demanded that future visits of Parliamentary Standing Committees must include Jammu in their itineraries so that the hardships of local manufacturers can be heard directly. They stressed that without engagement at the ground level, policymakers risk overlooking the most critical challenges facing the Union Territory’s industrial base.
The delegation further appealed to senior leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble MoS PMO, Sh. Jugal Kishore Sharma, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, and Sh. Ghulam Ali Khatana, Hon’ble Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), to intervene and impress upon the Parliamentary Standing Committees the importance of visiting Jammu. “Our problems are real, our units are collapsing, and our voices deserve to be heard. Ignoring Jammu will only deepen the crisis in the industrial sector,” the representatives emphasized.
The meeting concluded with a unanimous call for equitable treatment of both regions of the Union Territory, underscoring that industrial growth in Jammu is crucial not just for regional balance but also for the overall economic development of Jammu and Kashmir.