J&K safe for business because of low crime rate, UT govt to visiting Gulf CEOs

J&K L-G Manoj Sinha hosted a dinner for entrepreneurs and CEOs from Gulf countries who are on a visit to explore business opportunities in the UT (Image : @OfficeOfLGJandK)

The Jammu and Kashmir government urged visiting businesspersons from gulf countries to invest in the Union Territory citing ‘lowest shares in crime rates" among states in India as one of the reasons.

The UT administration made this pitch to a 34-member delegation from UAE, including Indian businessmen, who are on a four-day visit to the Valley looking at business opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials of the UT administration during the Gulf Investment Summit, held on Tuesday at Srinagar-based Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre, highlighted that the UT was a safe place to do business comparing the crime rates, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), with states such as Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP and Punjab and Haryana.

READ | Fear grips panchayat members in south Kashmir after militant attacks

J&K had the lowest crime rate, according to the presentation at the event attended by the delegates and UT’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Sinha, who also hosted a dinner for the delegation on Monday, said the UT was anticipating investment worth Rs 70,000 Crore within the next six months.

“We have cleared investment proposals of Rs 27,000 crores and hope it'll cross Rs.70,000 crores in multiple sectors. 6-7 lakh people will get jobs when the investment will fructify,” Sinha said after the summit on Tuesday.

The CEO of Century Financial, Bal Krishen is heading the high-level delegation of Gulf businessmen that landed in Srinagar in a chartered plane on Sunday.

The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir used to be among the states with the lowest number of crime cases registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws, according to NCRB reports, but incidents have seen a spike in the recent past.

The NCRB report released in September 2021, said that the UT has recorded a 15 per cent increase in cognizable crimes in 2020 compared to 2019.

That apart, the UT has been witnessing a spike in targeted terror attacks on locals, politicians, migrant workers, and members of the minority communities.

In March so far, three panchayat members—Shabir Ahmad Mir and Mohammad Yaqoob Dar of south Kashmir’s Kulgam, and Sameer Ahmad Bhat of Khanmoh on the outskirts of Srinagar—have been killed by militants, raising concerns about the safety of panches and sarpanches of Kashmir.

Also, read | How a model school came up in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir

Also, the number of militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir also witnessed a sharp spike of nearly 200 percent in the first two months of this year. As many as 24 militants were killed during the period as compared to 8 militants killed during the same period last year, according to a report quoting government data. There has been no civilian death during the period, the report said.

In 2021, as many as 193 militants were killed while 232 were gunned down by security personnel in 2020. The government has said that terror incidents have declined from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021.