Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, said on Sunday that the Central Government had given its nod for a wholesale fish market here. “Srinagar will soon get a wholesale fish market and retail hygienic fish sales centres, which have been approved by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) at an estimated cost of Rs 2.50 core on 90:10 Centre-state sharing pattern,” Samoon said. He said the government had identified four places for establishing retail sale outlets of fish with modern facilities in Srinagar — Chattabal, Karan Nagar, Parimpora and…
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Business
‘Tour operators should promote archaeological sites, artifacts’
We also need to tap media for tourism promotion: TASK Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah urged travel agents and hoteliers to promote State’s rich art, culture, heritage and archeological sites along with the natural landscape which the place is bestowed with. Mahmood Shah was interacting with the travel trade and hospitality sector at a dinner party here at Hotel Royal Batoo on Thursday evening. The dinner was hosted by Travel Agents Society of Kashmir (TASK) for the media fraternity from Indore. The journalists from Indore who are here on…
Read MoreFlower cultivators suffer losses due to dry winter
The dry winter season in Jammu has affected the flower growers as the yield has been low this year with farmers suffering huge losses. Most of the cultivators, especially involved in marigold crop, used mainly in religious and marriage functions, has faced maximum burnt as the flower size is very small. This has pushed the prices down forcing cultivators to sell their produce at cheaper rates. Around 1,000 hectors of land is under the cultivation of different varieties of flowers, particularly marigold, jasmine, aster, rose, chrysanthemum and tuberose in J&K.…
Read More200% increase in fares; Flyers hit out at airlines
Stakeholders voice concerns, ask DGCA to intervene Few days of downpour in Kashmir—coupled with hiccups in traffic movement on the Srinagar-Jammu highway—have again resulted in manifold increase in airfares to the state’s summer capital, with air travel from New Delhi to Srinagar costing around Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000 per-head. As per the data, the air fare in the Delhi-Srinagar sector—before the weather turned inclement in the Valley—was around Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 per-head. And this has—for the past few days—seen a 200 percent jump, giving tough time to…
Read MoreExcise officers won’t visit jewellers’ manufacturing units: KR Madhar
The Additional Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise, KR Madhar, today clarified that their officers would not visit any manufacturing unit or factory of jewellers and as announced in the Union Budget, one per cent excise duty would be levied on the turnover exceeding Rs 6 crore a year. Additional Commissioner KR Madhar in a press conference here said, “In this year’s Budget, a nominal excise duty of one per cent (without input tax credit) and 12.5 per cent (with input tax credit) has been imposed on jewellery.” While clearing doubts…
Read MoreExtend financial help to Kashmir without bias: Traders to FM
The Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) today urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to extend financial assistance to the Valley without any “bias”. “We presume that walking an extra mile means that the prevailing political uncertainty in the state will be addressed, economic areas like horticulture, handicrafts, tourism, forests, industry and other sectors will be revived and strengthened, our power projects will be returned, draconian laws like AFSPA will be done away with, security forces will be made more accountable and adequate financial assistance will be extended without considerations and bias,”…
Read MoreTulip Garden opens amid early spring
With 20 new tulip varieties on display amid an early spring bloom, Asia’s largest Tulip Garden on the banks of the Dal Lake here was thrown open today. Displaying around a million colourful flowers in the foothills of the Zabarwan range, the Tulip Garden usually reopens in March-end. However, this year it was opened early due to favourable weather conditions and the government is now looking forward to a good tourist season. “Even though it rained yesterday and there is a forecast of more rain, the overall weather conditions remained…
Read MoreAchen controversy erupts amid real estate investments
Govt rejected land swap offer from private party over a decade ago While protests over dumping of garbage at Achen have again snowballed into a controversy between the residents and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, the successive governments turned down the land swap offer from the private partners. We learnt landfill site wasn’t in use few years and there wasn’t any major problem. The city has city now turned into hostage over garbage disposal. Officials told the newspaper the major controversy erupted only in 2007, when a convoy of Srinagar Municipal Corporation…
Read MoreKashmir fruit industry in doldrums
General Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Tehreek, Ghulam Nabi Malik today said the fruit industry of Kashmir is in doldrums and needs focused attention and huge public investment. In a statement here today, he said the horticulture is the most important income generating industry of J&K, and Kashmir is an ideal region in the world for growing fresh and dry fruits. “The demand for Kashmiri fruit within the country is huge and export potential is also very high,” he said. Malik said the fruit industry in Kashmir is generating Rs…
Read MoreKashmir’s tulips to bloom in autumn also, Travel trade opposes the move
Director Floriculture Talat Parvez said they are planning to have two tulip blooms in a year in this garden. “We will have another tulip bloom during September – October which will further extend tourism season,” said Parvez. He said this year the department is experimenting on small area where few thousands of the tulips will blossom in autumn. “If it is successful, we will have lakhs of tulip blooms in next year autumn season.” When asked about the opposition shown by tour operators on keeping garden open for whole year,…
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