Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC&I) on Saturday said that their demands aimed at bringing transparency in cross-LoC trade were ignored by the successive governments in the state.
“Over the years, noeffective steps were taken to implement various suggestions given bystakeholders,” a spokesman of KCC&I said in a press statement.
He said that the decision of installation of full bodyscanner was taken several years ago it was caught in procedural delays.
“Demands aimed at bringing transparency to the tradeincluding installation of a full body scanner, close circuit televisioncamera’s (CCTV’s), banking facility, communication infrastructure,re-verification of traders, regular rotation of officials posted at TradeFacilitation Centres etc have been ignored,” he said.
He said that in July 2018, the then Hon’ble Governor N. N.Vohra had issued deadlines for the implementation of the above mentionedmeasures but till date no action has been taken resulting in the suspension ofthe trade itself.
He also said that the allegation that businessman ZahoorAhmed Wattali was the President of LOC Traders Association is alsounsubstantiated as per our knowledge.
“This has allowed thealleged flow of narcotics, fake currency and weapons into the State. In view ofthe serious nature of the allegations, responsibility needs to be fixed for theglaring lapses,” he said.
He said that the order of suspension has been issued withouttaking into account the difficulties genuine traders would be facing.
“No opportunity has been given to settle accounts andtraders have been left with huge stocks, many of them perishable, which wouldbe of no use. In addition, thousands of persons connected with the trade havebeen rendered jobless and in debt,” he said.