Srinagar: Former Minister and a senior leader of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) Syed Basharat Bukhari on Tuesday demanded a comprehensive business revival package for Kashmir’s horticulturists, agriculturists, traders and business houses, underscoring the need for an inclusive policy for valley’s agriculture and horticulture sectors.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Bukhari said that a comprehensive business revival package is direly needed to get the economy out of the crisis. “While the businesses in sectors like tourism, hospitality, handicrafts, handlooms and transport merit the government’s attention, vital sectors like horticulture, agriculture and allied sectors must not be the left-out entities in the process. The horticulture, agriculture and allied sectors form the body of our economy while tourism and allied sectors are the soul of our economy. We can only put the economy on wheels again when all the sectors are in good health and supplementing and complementing each other. All sectors must be accorded equal opportunities to thrive and progress,” Bukhari said.
Bukhari also underscored the despondency that horticulturists, agriculturists and other marginalized farmers are facing in wake of the pandemic which was exacerbated by untimely and incessant rainstorms and hail storms and urged the administration to waive off their KCC loans of everybody involved in horticulture and agriculture allied sectors. He added that the interest subvention and loan moratorium schemes should be mooted at the present stage to get the crisis-ridden sectors out of the chaos. However, said Bukhari, such rehabilitation schemes must be inclusive and accommodative for all sectors and that the cherry picking will not help to get the economy back on the track. “It is imperative for the administration to revive and sustain businesses and industries during the time of the pandemic so that once things improve on the Covid front, our businesses would be in a position to take off”, he added.
The PC leader also asked the government to include older business units under the purview of new Industrial Policy 2021 so that such units that are not older than seven years could avail the interest subvention on term loans as well. “Under the new Industrial policy, only new units are eligible for Interest subvention scheme on term loans. We urge the government to include those units in the policy as well that aren’t older than seven years to avail the benefits. We are sure that such a measure if taken will ignite a new ray of hope to the industrialists which are reeling under distress for years due to uncertainty on the ground,” Bukhari said.
