Jammu businesses seek 75 pc of salary expense from Govt

Jammu, 30-Aug-2020

Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has demanded that government should support in paying 75 per cent of the salaries and wages payable by business establishments to employees for the period of lockdown to enable them revive businesses. The chamber also demanded that interest payable on late payment of EMIs during the moratorium period should be exempted, pending incentives related to GST should be released and all mandatory taxes/duties should also be exempted.
The demands were raised yesterday during a meeting of a committee constituted fro revival of businesses in J&K with the representatives of trade, businesses and other commercial establishments of Jammu.
Meanwhile, Chamber of Traders Federation requested to reduce taxes on purchase of new vehicles and exemption in usage charges where as Confederation of Indian Industry demanded for budgetary support to industries, release of pending payments to MSME units and all the departments should be covered under single window system for different permissions/approval.
Hotels and Lodges Association Jammu requested for relaxation in SOP guidelines related to Covid-19 to attract more and more tourists to the J&K as most of the economy of the UT is dependent on the tourism sector.
While Advisor to Lt Governor, KK Sharma was physically present at the meeting, along with the representatives of trade and other establishments, held at Udhyog Bhawan here to discuss revival of Business Sector in Jammu and Kashmir; Financial Commissioner, Finance, Dr Arun Mehta, Commissioner -Secretary Industries and Commerce, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner Secretary Tourism, Zubair Ahmad attended the meeting through video conferencing. Other senior officers of the concerned departments were present at the meeting.
Detailed discussions were held on various interventions needed for the much needed business revival in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Suggestions were taken from different stakeholders including Industrialists, Traders, Hoteliers, Entrepreneurs and others related to trade and commerce, so that a comprehensive draft on trade policy can be made.
Trade federations including Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chamber of Traders Federation, Confederation of Indian Industry, Traders Welfare Association, Hotels and Lodges Association, Tourism Federation of Jammu, Private School Association, Jammu Fruit Association, Offset Printing Press Association, Banquet Hall Association, Federation of All India Vyapar Mandal Jammu etc effectively projected their view point and came up with suggestions as well as demands.
Most of the associations demanded relaxation in electricity bills, financial assistance, release of long pending payments under different departments, exemption on Bank EMIs during pandemic period, and taxes to be waived off to provide immediate relief to the industries and other traders.