On Saturday morning the JSW Group’s Chairman and Managing Director, Sajjan Jindal took to his twitter account and made a modest announcement of his Rs 150 crore investment in Jammu and Kashmir.
JSW Group’s Chairman and Managing Director, Sajjan Jindal, made the announcement about the foundation-laying ceremony for their new steel processing facility in Pulwama, South Kashmir.
In a tweet, @sajjanjindal announced, “we have laid the foundation stone for our New Steel Processing Unit in Pulwama – the heart of Kashmir.”
JSW Group had stated it will invest Rs 150 crore to set up a 1.2 lakh metric tonne colour-coated steel manufacturing facility in Jammu and Kashmir.
“JSW has committed to setting up a state-of-the-art colour-coated steel manufacturing facility of capacity 1,20,000 metric tons per annum along with special lines,” the group states.
In the southern region of Kashmir’s Lassipora- a highly industrial area, JSW is setting up a steel plant to meet the local market requirements. The event was very low key with no formal inauguration, no high-profile guests on the spot and Jammu Kashmir officials issuing a press release giving the details of the investment in Kashmir region.
The Jammu and Kashmir government provided 75 kanals of land under the newly drafted Industrial policy that has highly liberalized the land laws to encourage industrialization in the land locked region.
This marks the first investment in Kashmir post Article 370 abrogation on August 5- 2019. The Union government after abrogating provisions of Article 370 had asserted that extending of central laws to Jammu and Kashmir will usher in a peace and development that otherwise was discouraged under the special status the region was enjoying.
Five years down the line there was no official announcement of any fresh investments in Jammu and Kashmir that was downgraded as Union Territory by the central government.
It is probably for the first time that the Jammu Kashmir administration is acknowledging any new investment that the UT has attracted post article 370 abrogation and is subsequentially realizing on ground.
But the question is why the Jammu Kashmir administration is not celebrating the entry of any big business tycoons to the valley.
Why the inauguration of the event was low key and announced through a simple tweet followed by the official press release.
There are no definite answers but the officials in the “helm of affairs” claim that it was strategic silence to ensure more companies reach Kashmir without politicizing it.
“We don’t want to politicize the economic events in Kashmir since sensitivities prevail. Any untoward incident may lead to the defeat of our all-hard work over the past few years to convince industries to invest in Kashmir,’ said one of the officials requesting not to reveal his identity.
The official said that the government is officially reaching out to all major industrial houses in India and elsewhere in the world to encourage them to invest in Kashmir.
“Though the investment by the JSW is not so big but it will pave a way for industries to invest in Kashmir though we are not facing such difficulties in convincing industries for investments in Jammu region,” he added.
The Jammu Kashmir government is hoping that few more companies may set up their footprints in Kashmir during the year and the work is already under process.
The government further maintains that 1455 Industrial Units in Jammu and Kashmir have started working and over the period of one year the proposals worth Rs 66000 crores were received. It further said that the proposals worth Rs 28400 crores have already been approved. The proposals approved are predominantly in services and manufacturing sectors.
