Jammu, Aug 16: President Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCI) Jammu Arun Gupta along with office bearers on Wednesday called on Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, in his office chambers and apprised him of a plethora of issues ranging from land to water and smart meters.
The delegation, as per a CCI statement issued here, apprised the Advisor that there is an urgent need to redefine the land types as a large chunk of land in Jammu has been declared “Gair Mumkin Khad” by the Revenue Department despite the fact that no water body is passing through these lands.
The CCI delegation, apart from Gupta, included Rajeev Gupta, Jr Vice President, Manish Gupta, Secretary General and Rajesh Gupta, Secretary.
The delegation on the occasion said, “The registration and construction activities on these lands are barred. There are many industrialists who want to establish their units on the land which comes under the purview of Khad land. There is a need to redefine the “Kism” of this type of land and also a policy should be formulated to allow commercial and construction activities on those lands so as to realise the dream of the Prime Minister that maximum investment should come to the UT.”
Arun Gupta apprised the LG’s Advisor that the government has fixed the “circle rates” at a “much-exaggerated rate” while the actual prevalent rates are “much low”. He said while the government is encouraging entrepreneurs to establish their own industrial estate, such “exaggerated circle rates” are becoming a big hurdle in the process. We request that the circle rates be suitably brought down to match with the prevalent market rates, he added.
The CCI president also said that the water pipes have been laid many years ago and there is a leakage of water from these old pipes at many places due to which the people of Jammu are forced to drink substandard and contaminated water. We request that these old and damaged water pipes should be removed and fresh water pipes should be laid so that the people can get potable drinking water, he said.
Gupta further apprised Advisor Bhatnagar that to reduce the rush of patients to the Government Medical College Jammu, the emergency services along with HUD (High Dependency Units) be started in Gandhi Nagar and Sarwal hospitals so that the patients from different areas can get emergency services in a better way.
The CCI president also took up the matter of smart meters and pointed out that the consumers are complaining that smart meters are running very fast as compared to digital meters installed earlier and there is also a drastic increase in power bills after the installation of these devices.
He requested the LG’s Advisor to look into the grievances of the public (consumers) and hold this process until their grievances are sorted out, the statement said, adding, “He also said that since the consumers of PDD are paying their power bills regularly the process of the prepaid system of power bills should not be introduced in Jammu which we think is against fundamental rights of the consumers.” He apprised Advisor Bhatnagar of dilapidated roads in some areas of Jammu.
“Advisor assured that the issues raised in today’s meeting by Chamber of Commerce & Industry will be considered and the issues pertaining to other departments will be taken up with the concerned authorities,” the CCI statement said.
