Senior National Conference (NC) leader and MP Hasnain Masoodi on Saturday opposed the J&K Industrial Land Allotment Policy approved by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday.
“Such policy decisions should have been left to the popular State government to approve following the restoration of the August 4 position,” Mr. Masoodi, also convener of the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), said.
He said his party was dismayed over the new policy.
“Such policy decisions have a long term bearing on the industrial outlook of J&K. A coterie of bureaucrats cannot replace a vital and vibrant legislature, where such pros and cons of such policy decisions are deliberated upon by people’s representatives taking into account its impact on environment, housing and agriculture land usage,” Mr. Masoodi said.
He said such decisions, in a democratic set up, are initiated by taking counsel from people associated with small and large scale industries.
“A bill on such policies is discussed in the Cabinet and then tabled in the legislature for further discussions. In this case, the entire process has been skipped,” he alleged.
He warned that the industrial development scheme was meaningless in the absence of a peace initiative.
“If official statistics of 2020 are any indicator, hundreds of lives have been lost in about a hundred encounters, quite a few in urban areas of Srinagar and Jammu. The government does not even, one and a half years after assault on the special status of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, muster courage to restore the Internet at the speed available in other parts of the country.”
The L-G administration on Saturday decided that the new policy proposes zoning of industrial areas at block and municipality level “after taking into consideration various factors including the existing level of industrial development, location of the proposed zone and level of urbanisation”.
“The Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy, 2021-30 will also cover land allotment for health institutions, medi-cities and educational institutions or edu-cities,” an official spokesman said.
It was approved that the Land Allotment Committee will allot industrial land to the applicant within 45 days in cases of projects worth ₹200 crore, ₹50-200 crore and up to ₹50 crore.
“Under the policy, land will be allotted to the investors on lease for 40 years initially, extendable to 99 years. The policy aims at achieving inclusive growth through sustainable industrialisation and employment generation, and includes provisions for evolving a fair and transparent mechanism for land allotment for industrial use,” officials said.
