Government aware of the present difficulties of local industrialists: Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar, Nov 13 (Only Kashmir): Saying that the Government is fully seized of the present difficulties of local industrialists, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today said that all the stakeholders in this regard have to join together to move ahead.
Addressing a gathering of local industrialists here, the Chief Minister said the State is proud of its business community which braved the hot and cold of last three decades or so and has been making their effort in employment generation and strengthening of local economy. She said not only the Government but the whole society stands with them as their issues are not the individual problems but those of the entire society.
Stressing the need on self-sustenance, Mehbooba Mufti asked the business fraternity to ponder over the issues which have not led to the growth of a so successful enterprise from the State. She said her Government would all do whatever is required to support the local enterpreneurs but added that the local industry should also come forward and remove the bottlenecks coming in their way of growth and progress. “Don’t let yourself suffer for no fault of yours. Already a bad message has been spread outside the State which my Government is trying to clear”, she said.

Asking the unit holders to be hopeful of an enterprising future, the Chief Minister asked the Minister for Finance to work out modalities for instilling confidence and hope among the local industrialists. Already, she said, many reformative steps, including Labour reforms, have been taken by her Government which have upped the State on the chart of Ease of Doing Business.
Enumerating the steps taken by her Government, Mehbooba Mufti said most of the commitments made to the business community of the State at the time of passing of GST Act have either been implemented or are being implemented. She said Jammu & Kashmir is the only State which commits to incentives even after the enactment of GST while asking the Finance Minister to work out the slashing of tax slab on carpets under the GST regime. She also asked him to revisit the Artisan Credit Card loans and explore the possibilities of how the artisan community could be given a relief.
Earlier, representatives of local industry Mushtaq Chaya, Muhammad Ashraf Mir, Mushtaq Burza, Muhammad Yaseen Khan, Showket Choudhary and Iqbal Trumboo thanked the Chief Minister for making available industry benefits to tourism sector and other allied sectors in the State terming it historic. (OK)