Some issues unresolved in J&K

Even as the chambers of commerce and industry in Srinagar and Jammu have hailed the state budget for 2006-07, the apex bodies, however, once again raised many issues, which according to them, had been discussed with Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Muzaffar Baig during pre-budget deliberations.

"It is a well-drafted budget, full of promises. We appreciate that there are no new taxes and the cities of Srinagar and Jammu are specifically mentioned," the president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Raouf Punjabi, told Business Standard from Srinagar.

Punjabi received support from his counterpart in Jammu, Ram Sahai. "The budget mainly emphasised reforms rather than imposing new taxes or enhancing the present rates. We appreciate the proposal for the development of Srinagar and Jammu," the president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said.

Both Punjabi and Sahai hailed the state government for presenting separate provision power budget and asserted that erratic power supply was main reason behind state's industrial backwardness.

Sahai pointed out that during pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister, they had pleaded for formulating trade policy for the state and removing double taxation on cloth and textiles. "Finance Minister did not touch this in his budget speech. Further there was no mention of exemption of VAT on rice and pulses," Sahai said.

On his part, Punjabi said that though the budget was by and large balanced but there were some "misses". Elaborating this, he said, "We had suggested to the Finance Minister that provision for upgrade of houseboats, shikarawallas, travel agencies and other related areas was greatly needed".