Srinagar: To set the ball rolling for consultations on extending Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the state, the All Party Committee set up by the government is meeting Saturday afternoon here.
The Finance Minister of the state Dr Haseeb Drabu’s office has sent letters to the members of the committee.
Headed by PDP senior leader and M P Muzaffar Hussain Beig, the committee comprises of former Finance minister and NC leader, Abdul Rahim Rather, PDP general secretary Nizamu Din Bhat, PDF chairman and independent MLA from Khansahib Hakim Mohammad Yasin, CPI (M) state secretary and MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami, Congress leader Ajaz Khan, DPN chief GH Mir, independent legislators Er Abdul Rashid and Pawan Gupta.
Confirming that the invitation letter to attend the meeting has been delivered to him, Hakeem Yaseen said the meeting is scheduled to be held at 4 pm tomorrow (Saturday) in Nehru Guest house here.
The committee will deliberate on how it can modify the central GST to extend it to the state. It will come up with a report with few weeks and submit that to the government.
Following uproar by opposition and traders over central GST eroding fiscal and constitutional autonomy of the state, the government held an All Party Meeting and Special session of assembly to discuss the GST. But both the procedures failed to evolve any consensus on GST, with the state set to miss the GST extension deadline on July 1, when it will be rolled out across India.
Traders fear that due to GST and the state missing the deadline, trade will come to a halt.
Normal life crippled in south Kashmir against civilian, militant killings
Srinagar: Normal life was Friday crippled as shop and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads in entire south Kashmir in protest against the killing of a civilian and three militants yesterday.
Officials said there were no restrictions imposed in any part of south Kashmir today though security forces remained deployed in strength to stop any violence.
Even though there was no strike call by separatists, majority of the shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the roads for the third day today in Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam districts in south Kashmir. However, few private vehicles could be seen plying on some interior roads.
To prevent any protests or violence, a large number of security and state police personnel remained deployed in Pulwama, where a youth yesterday died in security force action on protests, demonstrating against killing of three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in an encounter.
Meanwhile, additional security forces, wearing bullet proof jackets and holding weapons and lathis in their hands, were also seen patrolling the streets in other major town and tehsil headquarters in south Kashmir to prevent any untoward incident.
However, traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway was plying normally though security forces have been deployed in strength to prevent any law and order problem.
Three LeT militants were killed in an encounter with government forces Thursday this week at Kakpora in Pulwama. A 22-year-old youth, Touseef Ahmad Wani, was killed in the subsequent cashes when security forces fired pellets and burst teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators at Kakpora.
