Srinagar, Feb 6: The Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir today suggested to government many areas for generating more revenues.
 At a pre-budget meeting with finance minister, the FCIK said the government should impose cess on large corporate and spare common people and small business from any further taxes as “they have suffered immense losses during the four month long unrest in the Valley.”
 “The FCIK has several times drawn the attention of the Government towards the fact that majority of large corporate houses including Banks have miserably failed in taking up voluntary corporate social responsibility initiatives for the benefit of people of Jammu & Kashmir,” the FCIK delegation led by its in term president Afaq Qadiri informed the FM.
 He said these companies and banks are presently taking huge benefits from the resources as well as the money deposited with them by the common man. “Therefore the FCIK suggests the to the government to impose a mandatory Cess on all these corporate, public sector undertakings and banks for the development of social sectors in the state.”
 The delegation handed over a memorandum to the FM on the occasion. Excerpts of the memorandum.

* Regularization of Buildings/Houses.
 It has been observed that thousands of houses and commercial buildings have been constructed by general public  without adhering to the master plan/town plan rules. As the  large scale demolition will destroy all these assets and have a negative impact on the economy,  the FCIK will suggest to introduce a special scheme for regularization of the harmless constructions on imposition of suitable penalties over and above the normal fee. However, this should not apply to the buildings and houses that have been built on encroached state land.

* Disinvestment of Public Sector Undertakings.
 The State Government could realize a large chunk of money through disinvestment of public sector undertakings that have failed to perform. There could be huge savings on this account even after liquidating the employees’ liabilities. However such of the undertakings which are potentially viable could be revived under public private partnership mode.

* Introduction of Housing Tax
 It has been observed that the state subjects block their own money and borrowings in non-productive housing sectors. The state government needs to discourage the trend by imposing suitable annual tax on the urban housing properties .

* Revenue enhancement in power
 The FCIK appreciates the initiatives taken by the government in the direction of seeking compensation from the central Government on account of recurring losses suffered by the state due to Indus water Treaty. The Matter needs to be vigorously followed with the concerned quarters. Besides the issue of transfer of power projects of Salal, Dulhasti and Uri to the state as a part of compensation towards such recurring losses need also to be pursued.
 The exemption given in respect of electricity duty of 22% to the power consuming central government departments and establishments including defense, para-military, MES, railways etc duty needs to be withdrawn. This would contribute substantial amount towards state resources.

* Transmission and Distribution Losses:-
 The single largest item of drain on the state exchequer is undoubtly the transmission and distribution losses in the power sector .Even a slight improvement in the scenario can result into substantial gain to the state exchequer. Successive Governments have failed to make any progress on this front and the losses continue to increase year after year. No state can withstand 72% T&D losses in the power sector. The J&K is probably the only place in the world which has such a high percentage of T&D losses. A very strong political will is the only solution to the problem.

* Encouraging Import Substitution:
 The entry tax on goods imported from other states need to be continued with till implementation of GST and possibility of imposing such a tax under GST regime need to be looked into for the sake of promoting entrepreneurship in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

* Creation of Lapse Fund Account for Valley
 It has been observed that funds for various developmental works in Kashmir valley are approved/released somewhere around or after December. Owing to bad weather conditions these developmental works are either not carried out or very badly done to avoid lapsing of fund at the end of financial year. It is proposed that a lapse fund account be created with various departments empowering them to utilize the same till end of the Ist quarter of next financial year. This methodology will meet the commitment of the State Government that financial year for the valley for the purpose of carrying out works shall be extended.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 6 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 6 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 7 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST