Trade groups in Kashmir on Monday announced to boycott the pre-budget discussions with Finance Minister to protest against the coalition Government’s alleged failure in rehabilitation of the victims of 2014 floods. They said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs 80,000 crore package for Jammu & Kashmir reserved a meagre component for the flood victims.
Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu was scheduled to kick-start the traditional pre-budget deliberations with the business community from Monday. The Governor NN Vohra has summoned budget session of the state legislature from January 18. The PDP-BJP coalition led by Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has decided to hold the budget session ahead of schedule.
The 13 business organisations including shopkeepers, industrialists, hoteliers, transporters, tour operators, travel agents and fruit growers alleged that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
justified its alliance with the BJP on the premise that it would fetch generous package and liberal funding from the Center “but the government failed to get appropriate amount of Flood Package”.
“The State administration recommended a Relief Package of Rs 44000 crore to the Union Government. It is an irony that the total package on account of floods is 7800 Crores which includes Flood Management of Tawi, Jhelum and their tributaries also. The entire damaged housing sector got 1200 Crores while as a meagre amount of Rs 800 Crore is earmarked for business and trading and shopkeepers sector”, the traders said.
They said the Finance Minister failed to take steps for raising business sentiment and helping traders to rehabilitate post floods.
The traders said that instead of getting reprieve from the Government in the backdrop of floods, a reign of terror has been unleashed through raids conducted by Commercial Taxes Department, labour Department, Income Tax Department to “extort undue tax”.
“The Industrial Sector has seen a significant fall in production post 2014 floods. The plight has worsened due to non-payment of due bills by the government departments, non- implementation of rehabilitation package and short supply of power multiplied by un-scheduled power cuts”, they said. Referring to handicrafts sector, the trade bodies observed that the export of handicrafts have fallen from Rs 1800 Crores in 2013-14 and Rs 1200 crores in 2014-15 to less than Rs 600 Crores during the current year jeopardizing the fate of lacs of artisans, weavers, businessmen and exporters depending on handicrafts.
The traders picked up holes in the government’s policy to promote high-end tourism at a time when the entire tourism industry was in a shambles. “The tourism sector is suffering huge losses due to the wrong policies of the department”, the traders said adding Rs 500 crore have been spent during the past 10 years for the development of new tourist destinations through Development Authorities but just one or two destinations have been made operational. “We would demand a high level enquiry or audit of
the working, funding and expenditure of the Tourism Department.
They also demanded high-level independent inquiry into “manipulated figures on tourist arrivals”.
The State Government did not immediately respond to the allegations by the trade organisations.