Chamber extends bandh call by 48 hours, seeks assurance on increase in compensation: JAMMU: Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) has extended bandh call for another 48 hours in Jammu after it did not receive a positive response from Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) till late tonight on its demand regarding grant of compensation to the traders of Kishtwar who suffered heavy loss after their business establishments were looted and razed to ground by miscreants in August 9 violence. According to a spokesman of the CCI, the bandh call has been extended by further 48 hours as the Chamber has not received a positive response on its demand regarding the grant of compensation to the affected traders of Kishtwar. He said though the CCI was hopeful that Government will positively act on its demand regarding grant of compensation to the violence affected traders of Kishtwar but no positive response came to its email sent to CMO repeatedly by the Chamber today. The Chief Minister in its response to Chamber’s email has written to Chamber president, Y V Sharma that it was discussed and decided in the meeting held on August 12 that the Government will provide adequate relief to those who have suffered loss of property/business in the recent Kishtwar incident and in its aftermath. The letter said “ it was decided in the meeting that a Committee will be constituted to assess the actual damages after making thorough ground assessment of such losses. The Government shall therefore, based on the assessment so conducted, release the relief’’. The letter further said “it will be endeavor of the Government to complete the process of assessment within the next one month”. Following this letter the deadlock persisted on the Chamber’s demand regarding grant of adequate compensation to the violence hit traders of Kishtwar for the second day today as the communiqué from CM’s office on its demand did not come to the expectations of CCI which forced it to extend the bandh call for next 48 hours, the spokesman added. Earlier the Government had given an impression to the Chamber that the demand of the compensation will be settled as per its wishes but it did not happen later. It may be recalled that the Chamber was not satisfied with the grant of Rs two lakh as compensation to each violence hit trader in Kishtwar as was announced by the Government after it held a meeting with leaders of all parties here yesterday held under chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Instead it was demanding that Rs two lakh be paid as interim compensation to each trader and the Government should frame a Committee to assess the loss and pay compensation to the trader according to loss suffered by him. Besides, the compensation be paid in a time bound period. However there was no positive response on the demand from the Government till late tonight forcing the Chamber to send two e-mails to CMO seeking a clear cut response on its demand. A handout issued by the CCI general secretary, Arun Gupta late tonight said that presidents and general secretaries of various organizations and senior members of the CCI which held an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of president of the Chamber to discuss the issue showed its dissatisfaction with the Government’s response and decided to extend Jammu bandh by another 48 hours to express solidarity with the people of Kishtwar. Mr Gupta said the members present in the meeting while discussing the latest situation at Kishtwar said that the meeting of civil society with Chief Minister yesterday has announced an interim relief of Rs two lakh in favour of the persons who have suffered losses at Kishtwar but as per the media reports only Rs two lakh maximum compensation has been sanctioned which is too less. Mr Gupta said the meeting demanded that a Committee should be constituted to assess on the spot losses and 100 per cent compensation should be provided in a time bound manner till then Rs 2 lakh should be released as interim relief immediately in favour of the persons who have suffered losses. Addressing the meeting, Y V Sharma informed the members that Chamber is in constant touch with Chief Minister’s Secretariat and it was expecting positive response regarding its demand. Mr Gupta said that the members were of the opinion that the email received in reply to the email of Chamber from CM’s Office did not satisfy the aspirations of the members. It demanded that to fulfill the aspirations of the members full relief be provided for the losses suffered in a stipulated period. The meeting said that the compensation announced by the Government in the year 2008 Amarnath land row agitation has not also been provided till date. Following the yesterday’s meeting with CM, BJP which had earlier given 72 hour bandh call in protest against Kishtwar violence did not extend the bandh call saying that the demands have been accepted and the confusion on the issue of compensation will be sorted out by tomorrow. However VHP extended the bandh call by further 24 hours till this evening.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 06:18:59 +0000
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