J&K to set up 165 small-scale units

Jammu and Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) today said it would set up 165 small-scale units under Rural Employment Generation programme in Budgam district of central Kashmir.

A KVIB spokesman said, Rs 3.40 crore had been sanctioned as loan amount by various units of KVIB in the district during the current financial year to set up the units.

He said Rs 1.02 crore had been earmarked as margin money, which is the amount to be contributed by the unit holders. The programme aims to provide employment to 1,500 people in the district.

Meanwhile, Reaffirming his government's resolve to provide transparent and people-friendly rule, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said a massive infrastructure development programme had been launched to rebuild the state's economy.

Many developmental schemes were underway in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions with the highest-ever assistance from the Centre to rebuild state's economy shattered during militancy, he told the visiting European Union delegation here yesterday.

Azad informed the delegation, led by Baroness Emma Nicholson, Chairperson, Foreign Affairs Committee of the EU, that the development scenario of the state received severe jolts due to militancy.