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| Will Tatas, Birlas, HDFC & Wipro go the way Bajaj's went in Srinagar in 1980? | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 6: When top functionaries of Bajaj Electricals were invited by the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, to Srinagar in 1980 for setting up industrial units in the Valley the visit ended in a fiasco even after the company built the clock tower in Lal Chowk and installed about half a dozen fluorescent street lights without charging anything from the Government.
The reason for Bajaj's hasty retreat was not the outcome of any political reason but the result of red tape in the offices related to the issuance of licence, clearance of the project report and okay from the Pollution Control Board etc.
When the senior functionaries of Bajaj Electricals felt satisfied with the response from Sheikh Abdullah to their projects they sent senior Managers to Srinagar for securing clearance for their projects. The managers, who were then drawing more salary than the State's Chief Secretary and enjoyed several other perks unknown to IAS and IPS officers, were teased and troubled by petty officials in various Government offices, including the Department of Industries.
When these managers were made to visit one office after the other and were embarrassed by the petty officials who demand a pound of flesh for clearing their cases they left Srinagar totally disappointed and dejected. It all happened without Sheikh Abdullah's knowledge. It was then that the petty Government officials shut the Valley's doors for big industrialists.
Even during 1996-2007 several industrialists visited Jammu and explored the option for setting up their units in Jammu, Samba, Bari Brahmana and other industrial estates in the region. These industrialists, including those who had plans of setting up a paper mill and a footwear unit,were teased and tormented. When the officials, including those belonging to the Pollution Control Board, kept on demanding money and that too from bottom to the top, they decided to abandon their plan.
There were other industrialists, including LG, Samsung, who wanted to set up their units in Jammu. However, they abandoned their plan when they were being coerced to set up their units in Srinagar instead of Jammu. They did so because they were not sure about the security environment in Kashmir.
In the context of these developments one keeps one's fingers crossed over the fate of the team of industrialists who were in Srinagar on the invitation of Rahul Gandhi. The top industrialists, including Ratan Tata, chairman Tata Group of Industries, Aditya Birla Group Chairman, Kumar Manglam Birla, HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh and others interacted with Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and some students of the Kashmir University.
Though the interaction between the Industrialists and a section of students was quite productive and positive but their (industrialists') nerves would have rattled with anti-India slogans raised by a group of students and with all that flows with it.
Hence even if the security scenario favours industrialists will the officials in various Governments departments help them in reviving and upgrading industrial sector in Kashmir or pack them back as they did with Bajaj's in 1980 ?Omar has to take care of it and ensure that Jammu too witnessed growth in the industrial sector. |
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