It is more than a decade when the foundation of a new trade complex named International Trade Centre, Pampore, was laid under the aegis of Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) with a sprawling area of 378 kanals of land. More than a decade has passed and all that the said Centre could accomplish was to retain the foundation stone and nothing beyond that. In justification of initiating the project it was said that it would provide impetus to the imbecile business setup of Kashmir by boosting the trading activities and was believed to accumulate all major business firms and corporate offices within one centre. The idea was to expose local traders and trades – handicraft items and agricultural products like Saffron – to international markets which could promise bigger income for the entrepreneurs. The idea was not bad as such but it needed to be translated into practice. Later events have shown that the Government has not evinced any interest in the project and the SIDCO contends that the JKPCC has failed to submit a utilization certificate.
In 2007, then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad along with then Union Minister of Trade and Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, laid the foundation stone of ITC at Pampore with a grant of Rs 29 crore to the project. In 2008, SIDCO under Centrally Sponsored Scheme, Assistance for State for Development of Infrastructure (ASSIDE), granted Rs 5 crore. The funds are unutilized due to negligence from the successive State Governments. We have learnt that the Corporation’s contention is that the project was to be equally shared by the Centre whereas from papers it trickles down that the Centre wanted the State to bear 80 per cent of the cost. JKPCC Deputy General Manager says that the Central Government has not yet approved the drawing of the Trade Centre despite three presentations made so far.
As there are contradicting reports on some aspects of the project, we are not able to say who is at fault and to what degree. However, all we can say is that the expectations of local producers and manufacturers in Kashmir, be it handicrafts or carpets, saffron industry or fruit marketing, no satisfactory arrangement exits till date that would eschew the middleman and allow the producer to reap the maximum benefit of his enterprise. How the Government will deal with the issue is yet to be seen.
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