Mehbooba Mufti To Rework on J&K Industrial Policy 2016

Jammu & Kashmir government led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has decided to revisit the J&K Industrial Policy 2016, which was approved on 15th March, 2016 during Governor rule in state.

“The new industrial policy will be broad based & inclusive without compromising on the special status of J&K state,” J&K PDP said in a tweet.

Hailing the move, the Jammu MSMEs said, “Decision taken by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to revisit the Industrial Policy -2016 to make it more Comprehensive, Broad-based and inclusive without compromising the J & K Special position for the speedy Industrial Growth in the State would open the employment opportunities for local unemployed youths.”

The Executive Committee of Federation of Industries Jammu has urged the state government to keep in view the requirements of the industries while revisiting the Policy.

“The allotment of Industrial Land for 90 Years as per the Ind. Policy 2004 was the Noble Idea of our Late Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed and due to this lot of Industrial Units were established in J & K from 2004 till 2015,” FOIJ committee led by Lalit Mahajan said.

FOIJ suggested that industrial land shall be allotted on lease for a period of 90 years as per the Industrial Policy 2004 and renew afterward without any charges. Free Hold Rights shall be given to the “Sons of the Soil” for the allotment of industrial land.

“Project Completion time shall be given for five Years from the date of effective steps and in case of non-completion of the projects in the stipulated period an exit route shall be given to the Unit Holders through the change of the Constitution/Transfer of the already created Assets within the Unit as per the existing Transfer Policy of J & K SIDCO/SICOP,” FOIJ said.

The already allotted Land for the Future Growth of the Unit under Substantial Expansion Programme should not be retrieved, the MSMEs suggested.

Adequate funding should be provided for the revival of Sick Industrial Units for which Government should Create Corpus fund, FOIJ said adding that the Technocrat Subsidy Incentive should be included in the Policy to provide relief to the Technocrat for the setting up of their Units.

Transport subsidy Incentive should be given to the Industrial Units for the dispatch of their Finished Goods up to Delhi, it added.

The industry body further suggested that the delegation of powers from the Provisional Registration to De-Registration of Unit shall be given to the General Manager District Industries Centers for the speedy clearance of files.

FOIJ also urged the state government to adopt Ease of Doing Business concept in all the Departments related to Industrial Sector i.e. Industries Department, Power Development Department, Pollution Control Department and Labour Department to abolish Inspector Raj.

“Due attention should to given for the establishment of Medium and Large Scale Sector in our State to open the avenues for the growth of Micro & Small Scale Sector in our State and the ‘ancillarization’ policy should be adopted by the medium and large scale Units for purchasing the goods from the Local Units,” FOIJ added.

Further, FOIJ also called for improving the “neglected” Cross LOC Trade stating that most of the items manufactured in J&K are not included in the list of items approved for the Cross LOC Trade.