Industrial policy
Government of Jammu and Kashmir has promised a new and robust policy for the industrial growth in Kashmir and the first step for it is the land to be identified and utilized for such growth. Recently Governor’s administration has transferred the land of horticulture Corporation to CRPF at Zakura, as the land could have been used for setting up the food processing units. It was having an excellent location for making of units for the juices like that of apple as thousands of kanals of land in this area have land under fruit production.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed sharp concern over the transfer of land to CRPF and said that this decision of the administration was in conflict with their promise that they will give industries a fillip in Kashmir and will give more and more land for the industrial development.
Chamber has pointed to the fact that already more than 300 kanals of land belonging to the Zainakote Industrial Estate was transferred to different wings of the State and Central Security Forces. This land was retrieved from the erstwhile Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) group in the year 2017. The land should have been given to the entrepreneurs of Kashmir so that they can set up their own business units as the government employment is now impossible for the well read and well qualified youth. They have only one option of setting up their own units for survival and the new policy of administration is not encouraging for them.
The decision also ignores the objections raised by City Planners in the just notified Master Plan- 2035 for the Srinagar Metropolitan Region. The defence use is spread over an area of 23.0 Sq km. including many military and paramilitary establishments. The widespread existence of military and paramilitary establishments across Srinagar has actually surpassed its area under public infrastructure.
