Jammu: Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan cricketer who holds the record for taking 800 wickets in Test cricket, has backed out of an over Rs 1650 crore investment project in Kathua under the National Industrial Sector Policy 2021.
The decision comes after the incentives under the scheme, which expired in September, last year, have not yet been extended. The issue was raised in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly during the Question Hour by CPM MLA MY Tarigami, who questioned the allocation of free land to a foreign cricketer in Kathua, while local extended families are not being given land for housing under the PMAY scheme. BJP MLA Rajiv Jasrotia and Congress’s GA Mir also criticized the decision, calling it unfair, and demanded a discussion on the matter.
Officials from the Industries and Commerce Department revealed that Muralitharan’s company, Ceylon Beverages, had planned to establish a plant in Kathua, which would have created 985 jobs. However, due to the lack of incentive approval from the Centre, Muralitharan has now decided to relocate the project to Pune. The Government confirmed that the incentives for industrial investments in Jammu and Kashmir, which were part of a Rs 28,400 crore scheme, expired in September 2024, and many proposals are still pending. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Javed Ahmad Dar, assured that the government would investigate the issue of land allocation
