Chamber (CCI) President Arun Gupta submit 20 Points Agenda to J&K UT Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta
18-08-2021: A delegation of Chamber of Commerce & Industry Jammu led by Sh. Arun Gupta, President and accompanied by Sh. Anil Gupta, Sr. Vice President, Sh. Rajeev Gupta, Jr. Vice President, Sh. Rajesh Gupta, Secretary, and Sh. Rajesh Gupta, Treasurer today called on Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary UT of J&K in his Office Chambers at Civil Secretariat Jammu and discussed with him various issues and submitted a 20 points agenda of demand for the government’s consideration in the interest of trade and industry of Jammu and Kashmir, especially of Jammu region. The pointwise agenda of demand is given as under :
Raghunath Mandir
The Jammu City is known as the City of Temples. Earlier it was visited by thousands of devotees from Jammu City and also lakhs of pilgrims who visited Jammu city. Now due to the picket installed outside and inside of the temple, only a few people are left who are visiting this temple. We request to kindly lift these pickets from the temple to make it possible for every devotee/pilgrim to visit this temple freely.
Amendment of Land Law
The land law has been framed as early during Maharajas rule according to which Mahajans and Khatries were allowed to purchase/keep 10 marlas of agricultural land only. Since then many amendments including “ZARIISLAHAT” have taken place but the said clause have not been amended. We request that the limit of 10 marlas should be abolished.
Redefining of Land Types
A large chunk of land in Jammu have been declared as “Gair Mumkin Khud” by Revenue Department despite the fact that no water body is passing through these lands. Registration and Construction activities on these lands is barred. There is the need to redefine the “Kism” of this type of land and also a Policy should be formulated to allow commercial and construction activities on those lands.
Registration of outside Vehicles
The RTO Jammu/Srinagar have issued notification regarding registration of vehicles being purchased/registered from outside and brought into the UT of J&K, requires fresh registration and road tax in J&K which is not in vogue anywhere in India thus defeating the theory of “One Nation One Tax”. This needs to be undone forthwith.
Development of Jammu as Smart City
Jammu is known as the City of Temples and we are thankful to the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi for announcing to develop Jammu as a Smart City. The work on this project is going on and much more needs to be done for which the cooperation of various departments is very essential. For instance, the electric wires/conductors are hanging on the PDD Poles having no symmetry at all giving an ugly look. Besides this sewerage and drainage system is totally defunct. The sewerage pipes remain blocked and the drains are chocked due to which the dirty water remains to overflow on the lanes and by-lanes giving an ugly look to this god gifted beautiful city of temples. We request your personal intervention to complete this smart city project.
Policy for Rehabilitation
Jammu is going to be developed as a Smart City which is a welcome step. In this connection, we wish to request that the people who will be affected by implementing the Smart City Project should be rehabilitated first.
Creation of Commercial and Residential Sites
Since the last three decades, the JDA, as well as the Housing Board, have not established any commercial area or residential colony due to which there is a dearth of both commercial sites as well as a residential area. The possibilities of the same may be explored.
Special Relief Package for Small Scale Business and unemployed youth
We appreciate the Government’s moves to provide free rations to poor people during the pandemic and lockdowns. We request that a Revival Package be announced in order to give relief to the small-scale business houses especially the non-essential shopkeepers who are the worst sufferers during the lockdown period.
Recently a Package of Rs. 28400 Crore was announced by the Government for J&K Industry, we request that 30% of this earmarked amount should be reserved for the stakeholders of Jammu Province as there are lakhs of unemployed youth in Jammu.
Special Incentives for Tourism, Transport and Trade Sector
Tourism/Transport/Trade sectors have been badly hit due to continuous lockdown. We urge the government to make some mechanism for survival and revival of these sectors.
NOC from the Fire Department
The Fire Department is issuing the “NOC” valid for one year only for Industrial Purpose/Hotel Industry also. It takes almost more than six months for applying for renewal and issuing of the NOC. We, therefore request your good self that the NOC from the Fire Department should be made valid for at least 3 years.
Development of Tourism
Peer Panchal mountainous region of the Jammu be explored and developed as a Tourist hub which otherwise is neglected till now. Despite tall claims, the areas of Bhaderwah, Bani, Sarthal, Kishtwar, and Doda despite having vast tourism potential are being ignored. The Road connectivity from Jammu to Bani be made functional so that the people of Jammu and Gurdaspur district shall flow into this place instead of going to Dalhousie and other places of Himachal. Even the Road connecting Patnitop with Jammu is in depilated condition and steps be taken to repair that stretch. Till now no commercial activity is allowed in Patnitop. We request to allow commercial activities on the pattern of Pahalgam and Gulmarg.
We also request that Defence Ministry be requested to arrange Retreat Ceremony like Wagha Border in Amritsar at Suchtgarh R.S.Pura Jammu to increase the tourist flow in that area.
Completion & Pending ongoing Projects
We wish to request that the pending work on the ongoing project like Artificial Lake on River Tawi, Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex, Development of Banks of River Tawi on the pattern of Sabarmati, Heritage Circuit be completed at the earliest.
VAT Amnesty Scheme
The government has earlier announced a VAT Amnesty scheme giving an opportunity to the defaulter of VAT to deposit their VAT dues without interest and penalties. But due to continued lockdown and financial crunch, some traders could not avail the benefit of the scheme as such we request that these traders be provided one more opportunity to deposit their VAT dues without interest and penalties.
Power Amnesty Scheme
The Power Amnesty scheme was announced when the Covid-19 was at its peak and total business was under lockdown. No doubt this scheme was further extended for some period but during that period also all the business establishments were closed / semi-closed and the business community was having no money to deposit/avail this scheme.
The Chamber of Commerce & Industry has been fervently pleading to give one last opportunity to the defaulting consumers to deposit/clear their power due without interest and penalties. The Chamber is firm of the view that this last opportunity will not only save the Traders / Industrialists from undue litigation but will also generate revenue for the government.
Rentals
We request that all the rentals of the business community payable to JDA, JMC, SIDCO, SICOP, and J&K Housing board should be borne by the government for the lockdown period.
Execution of Lease Deeds
The period of lease deeds in respect of some allottees has expired. We request that their lease periods should be extended further after charging the minimum possible premium. Further, some commercial sites have been allotted to some persons and regular rent is being charged and received from them but no lease deeds have been executed with them. We request that lease deeds be executed by the concerned agencies with the said allottees without any delay.
Vaccination Drive
We request to intensify the Vaccination drive across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir especially for Traders as their establishments are visited by huge number of consumers daily thus increasing the chance of risk to those who are managing these establishments by physically being present there.
Annual Darbar Move
The Annual Darbar Move process was aimed at maintaining communal harmony among the people of the Jammu and Kashmir regions. We, therefore, request to continue the Annual Darbar Move practice.
Issue of banquet Halls
Your goodself is well aware that Covid-19 has broken down the backbone of our traders. Banquet halls are the worst sufferers due to continued lockdowns on account of Pandemic Covid-19 and now the government has allowed only 25 persons to attend the social/religious gatherings. Sir, the majority of banquet halls are spread over more than 10-40 Kanals of land and what to speak of 25 people, the crowd of 200 persons will be barely visible unless restrictions are completely lifted the people would avoid booking of such huge complexes for just 25 persons only for social cultural and other functions which will further aggravate the hardships for this section of the business community. We, therefore, request to fix the capping criteria in the case of banquet halls as per their size and capacity and allow these to function with 50% capacity.
Cinema Halls
We request that the Cinema Hall be allowed to operate with 50% capacity and only those persons should be allowed to visit cinema halls who are vaccinated.
Chamber, hope being native and well versed with the problems of Jammu Region government will consider these issues with a practical approach.
Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary gave a patient hearing to the grievances, views, and suggestions put forth by the Chamber delegation
