J&K administration sets aside 18,000 kanals of land for industrial use

Ranjan Thakur, Principal Secretary of the Industries and Commerce Department,  told The Indian Express that land for the industrial units have been provided at multiple locations in the Valley but “largely in Pulwama, where we have cleared up about 2,000 kanals for this”.

Lassipora in Pulwama, Thakur said, has emerged as an area of interest among the investors because of its connectivity to the highway. All of this, he said, is state land and the government has “not acquired a single kanal under the land acquisition Act”. Change of land use from agricultural to non-agricultural purposes has been permitted, he said.

According to the administration, investment of more than Rs 52,000 crore has been proposed in the Union Territory. Of this, 52 per cent is in Jammu and the rest is in Kashmir.

The government estimates that the industrial units will generate 4 lakh jobs approximately, which will include direct employment, indirect employment and “non-committed” employment.

The proposed units are in 10 major sectors, including cement/stone crushing, pharmaceuticals, food processing, joinery mills and textiles. The highest investment is in food processing and organics-based units.

In Jammu and Kashmir, 257 and 762 units, respectively, have been proposed.