Acknowledging the long pending demand of the traders engaged in the cross- loC trade, Mehbooba Mufti-led alliance Government in Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday took a significant decision by authorising the Department of Industries and Commerce to work-out the modalities for establishing banking facilities for the cross-loC trade.
The decision was taken here at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Mehbooba Mufti.
“The Cabinet decision was taken after receiving the nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to institutionalise the cross-loC trade through a proper banking mechanism and doing away with the present barter system,” senior Cabinet Minister and State Government spokesman Naeem Akhtar said while briefing the mediapersons about the decisions taken in the Cabinet.
Akhtar said the banking mechanism would help the trade to grow much faster and enable import and export of listed commodities at a larger scale and faster pace. “It will address the regulatory aspects related to the trade between India and Pakistan,” he added.
The commercial banks in Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) would provide a facility to their respective exporters to realise their dues by opening a Trade Facilitation Account at their end. The initial debit and final credit by the exporter’s bank would be through the facilitation account.
Akhtar also expressed hope this important decision would go a long way in expanding the scope and ambit of the cross-loC trade.
Ever since the cross loc trade routes were thrown open the traders were relying on traditional barter system in the absence of banking facilities.
For a long time the traders community in the State were pitching for establishing banking facilities but it could not materialise due to security concerns.
In March 2015, when the BJP-PDP top brass had scripted ‘Agenda of Alliance’ even they had accorded top priority to enhancing people to people contact on both sides of the loC, encouraging civil society exchanges, taking travel, commerce, trade and business across the loC to the next level and opening new routes across all three regions to enhancing connectivity.
In another significant decision the State Cabinet wednesday gave its nod to develop tourism infrastructure at selected border points in Jammu and Kashmir for promotion of border tourism.
“To begin with the Government has decided to develop tourism infrastructure at Suchetgarh and Chamlyal in Jammu region,” he said and added that such facilities would be extended to other border areas in the State as well over a period of time.
The State Cabinet also welcomed the resumption of Indo-Pak talks and hailed the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s efforts of reviving the peace process in the region.
“The Cabinet observed that while peace process between India and Pakistan is of great significance for the whole South Asian region, it has the greatest impact on Jammu and Kashmir which faces the maximum brunt because of Indo-Pak hostilities”.