J&K: Industry body seeks Lt Guv's intervention for release of pending payments

A body of Industrialists on Monday sought the intervention of Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu for clearance of pending payments of unit holders, worth hundreds of crores, for the material supplied to various government departments.

Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) claimed that bills amounting to Rs 200 crore for the material supplied by Small Scale Industries (SSI) units to Power Development Department (PDD) directly and Rs 72 crore for the material supplied through Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (SICOP) are pending for the last more than six months.

In addition, the SICOP also failed to release the payment of about Rs 450 crore for the material supplied by SSI units to various government departments through it against the valid supply orders, BBIA president Lalit Mahajan said after a meeting of the industrial body here.

He appealed to the Lt Governor to issue necessary orders for the immediate release of funds for the clearance of pending payments of unit holders for the material supplied to PDD, Public Health Engineering and other government departments.

The meeting expressed concern over the "acute financial crisis" being faced by the SSI Unit holders.

"The matter has been brought into the knowledge of the concerned authorities but nothing has been done so far despite clear cut directions by the finance department to all the government departments to clear their outstanding of the material received prior to October 31," he said.

He said the SSI Units are on the verge of closure due to non release of payments and "we fear that the crisis will force the unit holders to go for mass scale retrenchment of local workers in the near future".