Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, June, 14
Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta on Sunday assured CCI Jammu that he will raise the voice of business community of the region and will ensure relief and rehabilitation by projecting their issues before the concerned quarters in the administration.
The BJP stalwart listened to the issues and plight of the CCI constituents during a visit to the Chamber House wherein President CCI Arun Gupta apprised him about the problems being faced by the business fraternity of Jammu region.
Arun Gupta shared the myriad count of miseries of the businessmen of the region especially due to successive lockdowns and other curbs which have become inevitable looking into the seriousness of disease COVID-19, which has wreaked havoc in the region and elsewhere. He said that business community has been facing numerous difficulties and the time has come that government should take some extraordinary steps to provide relief and rehabilitate the community which has suffered irreparable losses due to continuous lockdowns and block in flow of money in the market making number of businesses redundant and businessmen jobless.
Talking specifically, Arun Gupta said that Amnesty Scheme which was started by the Government to give respite to the power consumers of the UT and the last extension was granted on August 28, 2020 and payments were to be made by November 30, 2020.
“As the scheme was severely hit by the pandemic, it is advisable that the same should be continued with provision for the consumers to pay the bills by December 2021. This would not only help the individual consumers to a great extent but will also give a big boost to the industry during these testing times”, he told Kavinder Gupta demanding his intervention in the matter. He also raised the issue of continuous ban on building material which has become point of contention as people are finding it difficult to construct or repair their houses and other buildings as the rates of construction material has been raised four to five times.
The CCI members also expressed concern over district administration’s indifference towards the business community alleging that the decisions it was taking are arbitrary and without consulting anyone. They said that such authoritative gesture of the administration is uncalled for because the traders fraternity had never gone against the will of the government but the apathy shown towards businessmen of the region is highly disappointing.
After giving a patient hearing to the CCI members, Kavinder Gupta asserted that the issues raised were quite genuine and he will take proactive measures in projecting the same before the government functionaries to ensure early redressal. He said that there is nothing to suggest that the government will not pay heed to the demands of CCI Jammu as all the demands are the basic requirements for a community to live a life with dignity.
The senior BJP leader categorically said that he will make sure that the amnesty scheme for power consumers will get extension upto December. He told the CCI members to rest assure that all their demands will get a nod and soon their problems will get mitigated.
Among others CCI members who were present in the meeting included Anil Gupta Vice President; Rajesh Gupta Secretary; Rajesh Gupta Cashier, Vinod Kumar and Suraj Singh.
