Srinagar, June 19: In a major development which could prove to be a boon for tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India (GoI) has relaxed its Leave Travel Concession (LTC) rules, sources told Greater Kashmir on Saturday.
They said that on the intervention of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the GoI has decided to permit its employees to travel to JK by air.
The order in this regard was issued recently by Raj Bala Singh, Under Secretary to GoI. The order copy has already been sent to the JK Chief Minister’s secretariat, sources said.
“All officers and employees will be allowed to avail LTC to visit JK against conversion of one block of their home town LTC.  Officers, employees entitled to travel by air can avail LTC in the entitled class,” the order states.
“All other GOI employees can travel to any place in JK by air in economy class from Amritsar and New Delhi subject to their entitlement,” the order adds.
This order is effective from June 18, 2010 for a period of 2 years. “It will also be applicable to the employees serving in Indian Audit and Accounts department,” it reads.
Sources said the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had been trying to persuade the GOI to relax LTC rules since he took over the reins. “There are nearly 70 lakh GOI employees. This relaxation will encourage lot of people to visit JK and it will definitely help the tourism sector,” they added.
“Omar’s predecessors, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, had tried their level best to get this rule relaxed but they couldn’t succeed,’ said one of the close aides of the Chief Minister.
He described it as one of the “great achievements” of the Omar-led coalition government.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST