Will ensure land, job, assets are protected: LG

Ahmedabad, Mar 9: The Jammu and Kashmir administration will ensure that jobs, lands and assets are protected for the people of the Union Territory as it invites investments after abrogation of the special status, its Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu said here on Monday.

The LG was addressing businessmen at a roadshow organised for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Global Investors’ Summit.

“Let me tell you, a lot of apprehension is there, and local people also have apprehension that if we open up Jammu and Kashmir, there will be a host of people coming from outside, and what about us?

“At this forum, I would like to say that although we have opened up everything, we will see to it that job, land and assets are protected for the (local) people, as it happens in Gujarat,” Murmu said.

Murmu said JK youths are proactive and competent, and there was no lack of skilled manpower, and industry setting up units there will create ample opportunities for them.

He said the JK government is working to remove barriers and facilitate a single-window system in order to attract investment, and claimed that Jammu and Kashmir was witnessing a “paradigm shift” after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 (A).

The Central government on August 5, 2019 revoked Article 370 to take away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and announced bifurcation of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

“We have implemented three-tier Panchayati Raj system. We are empowering urban local bodies. We are implementing other things, and also decentralising. Everything will be in place. We will be facilitating single window system and are also replicating Indextb kind of thing. So you will see more ease of doing business,” he said.

Indextb is an investment promotion organisation of Gujarat government to facilitate industrial development.

The LG said that Gujarati businessmen “are successful worldwide” and they should also explore the vast investment opportunities in Jammu & Kashmir.

Murmu said the kind of apprehension about the region that existed earlier is no longer here.

“Apprehensions like militancy and other things are limited to certain pockets. That too has become negligible. What was happening in earlier years is gone. There is complete peaceful atmosphere there,” he said.

Murmu said while there were no restrictions now on outsiders purchasing land in J-K, the government is investing in urban infrastructure and connectivity, and has earmarked a huge land bank to set up industries.

He said while the region has ample hydro power supply, skilled manpower, and connectivity, his government has come out “with a very competitive policy,” drafting sectoral policy to facilitate investment.

“We are restructuring departments, streamlining each and every thing to provide ease of doing business. We are facilitating everything,” he said.

The LG informed the industrialists that industrial barriers have been removed in J&K. Top business houses of Gujarat including Rasna, Cadila, Ambuja Group, Amul, Adani, Suzlon, Abellon Clean Energy and many others participated in the interaction.

Piruz Khambata, CMD Rasna Pvt Ltd, RS Sodhi, MD, Amul GCCMF, Manish Gupta, MD, Ambuja Group and many other prominent industrialists from Gujarat called on the Lt Governor to discuss their investment plans in J&K. The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has drawn interest of Investors, Corporates, Business owners across India for the upcoming Jammu Kashmir Global Investors Summit.

With 6 domestic roadshows, which ended in Ahmedabad city on Monday, the delegations led by  the Lt Governor, attended by over 150 delegates, 21 B2G meetings has signed  35 MoUs worth Rupees 2141 crore with big corporates, MNCs, Business Groups and Investors from different sectors.

It seeks to attract investments, especially in the areas of textiles, food processing and manufacturing from Gujarat.

Five roadshows were earlier held in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai, with MoUs promising investments of Rs 10,000 crore signed, an official said.