KT NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, Feb 14: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has decided to boycott the meeting with the finance minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig that was scheduled to be held on February 15 as the budget proposals have already been finalized by the state cabinet.
This was disclosed by the senior vice president of KCCI Zahoor Ahmad Tramboo at a press conference of traders and trade organizations here today.
The president of KCCI said that they received a letter from the special secretary finance department that the finance minister is going to held with the traders of the valley but they decided to stay away from the meeting since the budget proposals have already been finalized that came in the local press today.
"It is a humiliation of the traders and the trade organizations of the valley that they have been totally neglected regarding the budget proposals and it is for the first time that this has happened with the traders of the valley" added the senior vice president of KCCI.
The functionary of KCCI added that the traders of the Jammu region have already been consulted by the government and there is no fun of holding meeting with the finance minister since the budget proposals have already been finalized.
He added that it seems that the traders and the trade organizations of the valley have no meaning and credibility in the eyes of the state government.
Although, the meeting was to inform the press about the reasons for the boycott of meeting with the state finance minister but issues like the implementation of VAT, sales tax payment and the problems being faced by the traders in the Kashmir valley.
The office bearers of the various trade organization answered the queries which were asked by the media men on this occasion.
Regarding the implementation of the VAT in the state the traders were of the view that it will be accepted only when certain modifications are made in the draft proposal.
"For implementation of VAT the government decided to aware the traders about the same but upto this moment of time no such exercise has been done" said one of the office bearers of KCCI.
Regarding the payment of sales tax one of the traders said that the state government is back tracking on this issue.
He added that it was decided with the state government that the traders would pay the sales tax arrears from 1989 onwards in 30 installments, but government decided to follow a fresh course of action even if the traders had paid 20 installments under the amnesty package.
Regarding the problems being faced by the traders of the valley the traders were of the view that the government has never paid any heed to the suggestions made by the business community of the valley so that there is an improvement in the overall functioning of the trade and trade organizations.
On this occasion the president of Saffron Growers Federation of Kashmir said that the Jammu & Kashmir state is the only state in the country where sales tax is levied on agricultural products and saffron being one of them.
He added that more than one million people belonging to 226 villages are engaged with the trade in the state and irony is that the sales tax rate percentage has been increased to 4 % which was 3 % earlier.
The meeting was attended by a cross section of the traders of the Kashmir valley.
JKTUC calls for strike on Feb 24 KT NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, Feb 14: The Jammu & Kashmir Trade Union Centre (JKTUC) has said that the government as well as non-government employees of the state would go on a one day strike on February 24 so that in case the government does not fulfill its demand of merging the 50 % DA with the pay of the employees.
In a statement issued to the press, the JKTUC has made all the arrangements for the strike after a two day meeting of all its representatives belonging to all the three regions of the state.
"It was decided in the meeting that the February 24 strike would be made a success so that the government is forced to entertain the justified demand of the employees" said the spokesman of JKTUC.
The two day meeting was presided over by the president of JKTUC Sampat Prakash and it was urged to the government to regularize the services of the adhoc employees and provide all the benefits to the employees which have been proposed by the fifth pay commission.
Medical employees denounce termination KT NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, Feb 14: The Jammu & Kashmir Medical Employees Federation in its meeting have denounced the government decision whereby the services of the adhoc employees working in the Health and Medical Education have been terminated with the issuance of a government order on February 9.
The Federation has lodged its protest over the decision and has termed it equivalent to snatching the rights of the employees which have been duly acknowledged world over.
"The decision of the government has ruined the lives of these employees and there are chances that their families would face a lot of difficulties in the coming days" said the spokesman of the Federation.
The Federation decided to launch an agitation so that the terminated employees are reinstated for which a continuous struggle would be launched so that the employees would be given their due rights.
GMC employees resent termination KT NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, Feb 14: The Employees Association of the Government Medical College Srinagar have expressed its resentment over the government order by which the services of the adhoc employees working from last 13 years have been terminated and their services have been placed on the basis of contractual arrangements from this month.
The spokesman of the Association has termed the action as totally contrary to the healing touch policy of the coalition government and has said that the order has created chaos and confusion among the families of the affected employees.
The Association has demanded that the order be revoked and the services of these employees be made regular relieving them and their families of all the tension which has hogged them since this order.
CM inspects Uri road facilities
