Srinagar: By the end of this year, the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) and the Small Scale Industrial Development Corporation (SICOP) would have merged, as a thorough process is being carried out to pay all outstanding accounts and settle the assets and liabilities of the Corporations.
In September of last year, the Administrative Council approved the creation of the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Development Corporation (JKIDC) as well as the merger of SIDCO and SICOP into it.
As a result, on September 8, 2021, Government Order No. 877-JK(GAD) of 2021 approved the formation of a committee to develop a roadmap for the creation of the JKIDC in accordance with the provisions of the modified J&K Development Act.
The committee, which was chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department and included the Principal Secretaries to the Governments of the Industries and Commerce Department, the Department of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs, and the Housing and Urban Development Department, was tasked with creating a roadmap as soon as possible.
Official sources said that “a detailed exercise is currently underway regarding the merger of SIDCO and SICOP and the process will take at least few more months,” adding that “time is being consumed primarily because the successive Governments in Jammu and Kashmir never paid serious attention towards getting the accounts of these two corporations audited on a regular basis.”
According to sources, “the statutory and supplementary audit of the accounts of these Corporations was pending since 2012–13, but following the decision of the current Government about the merger of SIDCO and SICOP, the accounts have been audited up to the financial year 2020–21. The necessary formalities with regard to the human resources of both corporations, their assets, and liabilities are also being completed, and hopefully soon.”
The combination of SIDCO and SICOP will open the door for the J&K Industrial Development Corporation, whose formation was also decided upon in September of last year. In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, this corporation will help with the swift and orderly construction and organisation of industries in industrial areas and Industrial Estates (IEs).
The corporation will create and manage industrial estates at locations chosen by the government, develop industrial areas chosen for this purpose and make them available for businesses to establish themselves, develop land on its own behalf to facilitate the placement of industries and commercial centres there, and implement plans for offering industrial units and business establishments.
