*Discusses modalities to boost exports
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 25: Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor, Nitishwar Kumar today chaired a meeting with the concerned officers of Srinagar Smart City projects to review its progress at the Raj Bhavan.
At the outset, the Principal Secretary sought the latest status of the progress in implementation of projects under Srinagar Smart City programme. He said that the vision of the Srinagar Smart City project is transforming Srinagar city into a modern, sustainable, and economically advanced city.
During the meeting, the Principal Secretary passed specific directions for completion of the ambitious projects within stipulated timelines. He asked the concerned to give focused attention on improving infrastructural development and public services.
He impressed upon the concerned officers to apply the learning gained from the experience of the officers of other smart cities in the country during the implementation of various projects.
He called for proper inter-departmental coordination and directed the officers to get better understanding of implementation of Smart City projects.
He further called for exploring every possibility to make the Srinagar City a world-class tourist destination by using the latest technological advancements in projects of infra-development and delivery of various public services.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang K.Pole; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) SSCL and Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary; Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation; Vice-Chairmen of J&K LDA & SDA; Chief Engineer R&B; Chief Town Planner Kashmir; S.E KPDCL and other senior officers were present in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Nitishwar discussed modalities to boost exports. The high level meeting was attended by Administrative Secretaries of Agriculture, Industries & Commerce, School Education, Higher Education, Civil Aviation, Mission Director Skill and Directors of various departments.
In the meeting, discussion was held regarding restructuring of existing Jammu & Kashmir Trade and Export Policy in line with the suggestions given by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
While discussing measures to ease exports, it was decided that the Government would reduce procedural formalities for export transactions by way of fast processing of export-related documents, like issuance of licenses and Import Export Codes and efforts would be made to integrate SWIFT, Single Window Interface for Trade system with the UT’s Single Desk Portal.
In order to eliminate logistics related issues, setting up of Multimodal Logistics Parks with the help of Government of India would be set up for which discussions are already underway. ‘Invest JK Desks’ would be established, preferably at JK House in metro cities and at offices of foreign embassies in India. Setting up of a State-Centre Coordination cell to review and act upon new developments related to the UT’s exports was also discussed during the course of the meeting. The need to frame SOPs for exporters’ grievance redressal was also discussed during the meet.
The Principal Secretary lauded the efforts and stressed on the need to seek assistance of expert agencies with technical expertise for the purpose of getting GI tags for the UT’s products.
Export Facilitation Centres would be set up to provide end to end ground support to artisans who are trying to access foreign markets. EFCs would also be integrated with Common Facility Centres to act as one stop solution for design, finance, operations, logistic, documentation, professional advice, branding and marketing etc, he added.
The Principal Secretary was of the view that the UT government must identify potential exporters and facilitate export of their products through containers or air cargo to global markets. The Industries & Commerce Department was further asked to address land issues pertaining to setting up of logistics parks.
Organising regular buyer-seller meets; marketing, promotion and publicity of handicraft and handloom products in the Gulf markets was also discussed in the meeting.
In the agriculture and horticulture sector, direct air connectivity between Srinagar-Dubai, subsidy on international freight, enhancement of cargo handling capacity of Srinagar airport terminal among other factors were also discussed in the meeting.
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