Govt’s attitude towards artisans, handicrafts deplorable: NC

Srinagar, 29 Jan: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq on Monday expressed concern over the plight of artisans, saying the apathy of the incumbent government has brought most of them to the brink of starvation.
This he said while visiting various areas of Zadibal constituency, where he made brief stopovers at various places to meet with the poor artisans associated with paper-mâché, shawl, chain stitch, carpet, and wood carving who have long been yearning to have their issues addressed. “Unfortunately, in the past 8 years, these artisans received no relief from the government or in approved loan restructuring. The only respite came from the Omar Abdullah government, offering loans under a special scheme for small-time paper machine units. However, their dreams were shattered in 2014 floods, as their homes and working units were devastated,” he said.
He said that it is a criminal apathy that the sector which till date had always been tax free is levied with heavy illogical and unjustified taxes thereby heralding the death of this sector. “The successive governments since 2014 have been hell bent on bringing the crowning glory of J&K to its last throes,” he added.
“It’s really unfortunate that the government has not been able to understand the ground realities of Kashmir and its produce. Moreover the incumbent LG government’s failure in convincing the union ministry of giving tax concessions to these sectors, artisans is, to say the least, very deplorable,” he said.
The party spokesperson further said that the incumbent non-democratic government has failed to understand the need of understanding and acknowledging Kashmir’s socio economic realities. “We have been saying this from day one that there are certain sectors which need a solo unflinching focus of the government, handicraft sector being the primary among them. In Srinagar only, thousands of people are directly or indirectly associated with this sector,” he said.