Ahmedabad: 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, Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu said here 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.
The LG informed J-K 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 J-K 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).
“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,” Murmu informed the gathering.
‘Indextb’ is an investment promotion organisation of Gujarat government to facilitate industrial development.
Appealing to Gujrati entrepreneurs to invest in Jammu and Kashmir, the LG said the kind of apprehension about the region that existed earlier is no longer applicable.
“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 here,” 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.
The J-K administration held its sixth and last roadshow here for the upcoming investors’ summit to be held in May. It seeks to attract investments, especially in the areas of textiles, food processing and manufacturing from Gujarat.
Five roadshows were earlier held in Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai, with MoUs promising investments of Rs 10,000 crore signed, an official said.
PTI