By Syed Khalid Hussain,Zee News

Copyright india

The Kashmir business community, under the banner of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kashmir (CCIK), on behalf of the Kashmir business community, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate the coming Diwali in Kashmir, which they believe will help in the revival of Kashmirs dying business. CCIK President Tariq Gani invited Prime Minister Modi to celebrate Diwali in Kashmir and said, “If PM Modi gives a call of invitation to people from across the country to visit the Valley will make this paradise bloom again. And not only will it revive and restore the tourism sector, but it will also help other things to come on track, which are currently in decline.”Tariq praised Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for planning for the Kashmir Horticulture sector to carry their fruits, especially apples, out of Kashmir on time, saying, “LG administration should make arrangements for compensation to fruit growers who, due to the continuous blockade of NH44, met hundreds of crores of loss.”The Kashmir business community also requested the UT authorities to announce a special economic package for the business fraternity, including a one-year waiver on bank loan interest.They requested that the need of the hour is that Kashmir should be publicized, be it the domestic market or international, and authorities should also think of opening all the tourist destinations in the Valley, which were closed after the Pahalgam terror attack, and their opening will give a feel of security and normalcy to tourists, and it will also boost the local economy. Tariq urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah not to cancel his Paris tour of promotion of Kashmir as an international tourism destination, saying, “We don’t know why the CM cancelled his Paris tour; he should go and even take stakeholders with him and also expand it to other countries, as it’s the need of the hour. We need both domestic and international tourists in Kashmir.” This year, Kashmir has had back-to-back setbacks in business. At the start of the tourism season Pahalgam attack happened, which took the tourism industry to zero, resulting in around 42 thousand crore loss, and still not on track. The second setback was the rotten meat nexus exposé, which created fear among common people as well as guests; people stopped having meals outside their homes, and it crippled the hotel and restaurant industry of Kashmir. Tariq said, “We appreciate the authorities and police for taking strict action against people who were running a rotten meat nexus, but authorities should make public the names of the people who are involved in this trade. This will help others to save their business as people this time treat all in the same way, and genuine people too are having losses.” The third setback to the Kashmir economy was the continuous closure of the national highway NH44 for at least 20 days, which too at the time of peak season of apple harvesting.Apple and peach industries had approximately 12 hundred crore losses and forced Kashmir apple growers to come on the roads and shut industries. All UT industries were put into action. On the other hand, the parcel train service was made operational. CM Abdullah and LG Sinha also asked Union Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari to intervene, and his intervention made the highway functional in a day. The Kashmir business community also appealed to the authorities to compensate the fruit industries for their losses and to find a one-time solution for NH44. The Kashmir community also held a meeting with top officials from the Administration, Police, Traffic Department, and Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to discuss several concerns. All the Kashmir community in one voice urged PM Modi to come to Kashmir and give a call from Kashmir to the rest of the countrymen to help review the Kashmir business.