The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry Monday termed the announcement of Rs 800 crore for interest subvention to traders by the government as a “cruel joke”.The KCCI stated that the Rs 44,000 crore flood relief package which the then NC-led government in Jammu and Kashmir had sought from the central government, included Rs 19,241 crore for trade and business rehabilitation and revival.
In this amount (Rs 19,241 crore), there was a provision of Rs 8741 crore for interest subvention including Rs 2880 crore for existing loans, Rs 5760 crore for new loans, Rs 57 crore for industry, Rs 44 crore for artisans.
“But unfortunately the central government just allocated Rs 800 crore which is nothing in comparison to losses suffered by the business community in Kashmir,” president KCCI, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, said.
He said the KCCI has strongly opposed the attempt by the central government to “pass the regular expenditures and projects as some kind of rehabilitation package for the State.”
“The chamber has already dismissed the Rs 80,000 crore package (announced by the central government some time back) as a weak exercise in which regular plan schemes and pending projects of the government are being projected as Special Rehabilitation. The package holds no hope for the flood hit population and appears to be a mere financial jugglery of figures.”
He said that “downgrading AIIMS for Kashmir to an AIIMS like institution confirms that the AIIMS like institution was granted at the cost of Kashmir’s proposed AIIMS.”
