EODB Govt’s tops priority: Atal Dulloo

Meets tourism bodies and industries’ federation in Srinagar

SRINAGAR, December 22: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today said that the ease of doing business (EODB) is a top priority of the government of Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen the industrial ecosystem in the region.

He made these remarks during an interaction with delegates and participants from various Trade and Travel Bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that government is committed towards ease of doing business (EODB) in its true spirit and has taken slew of measures to promote business in the UT besides providing ease of doing business with the required approvals.

During the interaction, heads and representatives from different Tour, Travel and Industrial Bodies presented a spectrum of issues before the Chief Secretary.

Among the topics discussed were regular power supply to industrial units, renewal of licences, registration of hotels to be eased, promotion of virgin tourist destinations in a planned manner, streamlining of registrations.

Hoteliers Club raised the issue of registration of hotels, permission for repairs, industry status, extension of leases.

Houseboat Owners Association while submitting their memorandum raised the issue of renewal of licences, repairs of houseboats, subsidised timber among other things.

KCCI in its demands said that the new destinations should be promoted and developed in a planned manner besides carrying out environmental impact assessment and taking  capacity of the area into consideration.

Representatives demanded Gondola Cable Car facility in Sonamarg and Hotel Association of Sonamarg raised the issue of snow clearance machines, fire and emergency vehicles, promotion of winter sports activities among other things.

Chief Secretary gave a patient hearing to the demands of the associations and said that the government will act as a facilitator and will take all stakeholders on board.

Atal Dulloo said that the government is taking promotion of tourism in and across the country very seriously and is taking several initiatives in this direction.

He advised the various bodies that they should partner with the Government in organizing  high profile events like the G20 event held this year and another with film industry can be planned. CS encouraged tourism players to be part of FAME events that will have a cascading effect on the arrival of tourists.

Maintaining that government is very keen on the promotion of new tourist destinations in a sustainable manner, Atal Dulloo said that under a comprehensive plan modern day infrastructure and facilities will be made available at few virgin tourist destinations to cater to the huge influx of tourists while taking into account the capacity of the locations.

In another separate meeting, Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) also met the Chief Secretary and raised issues related to the industrial sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

The prominent issues that came up for discussion included composite industrial policy, quota for J&K industrial units in Government purchases, rejuvenation of industry, interest subvention, simplifying the procedures in Pollution Control Board, business interruption insurance, marketing support, power amnesty, sorting out of land lease issues and restraining J&K bank from taking harsh action against industrial units while dealing with NPAs which could be dealt with more compassion.

Chief Secretary assured the delegation that any issues faced by the industrial associations will be seriously looked into and everything will be done to foster ease of doing business. He said that steps are already afoot in providing a conducive environment for providing relief in setting up industrial units.