Environmental film festival concludes at Leh

Forest Division, Leh and State Pollution Control Board, Leh in collaboration with an NGO from New Delhi conducted two day Environmental Film Festival on May 27 and 28, 2009 at District Auditorium, Leh. It was inaugurated by Chairman and chief Executive Councilor, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Mr. Chering Dorjey. 
Nearly 440 students representing 22 different schools of Leh and teachers attended the film festival. 
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Chering Dorjey said that Ladakh region is facing brunt of climate change as many of the glaciers in and around are vanishing and some of them are shrinking. 
In the two day Environmental Film Festival, 16 different films were shown. Each of these films were taken from different parts of India.

Measures discussed for augmenting tourist infrastructure

SFC holds meeting with JKTDC, SKICC officers 
State Finance Commission (SFC) today held a meeting with the officers of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) and Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) to deliberate upon issues pertaining to tourism infrastructure, finances, liabilities, assets and profits registered during the 10th Plan by the said agencies. The meeting was chaired by Chairman, SFC, Dr. Mehmood-ur-Rehman.  
The meeting was attended by Members of the Commission which include Mr. Swami Raj Sharma, Prof. Nissar Ali, Mr. Sonam Dawa, Secretary, SFC Mr. Jeet Lal Gupta and Managing Director, JKTDC, Mr. R. A. Qadri, besides consultants. 
During the deliberations, promotion of new tourist destinations and augmentation of existing tourist infrastructure at health resorts of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg also came up for discussion. 
The meeting was told that main job of the JKTDC is to provide improved accommodation, catering and transport facilities to the tourists visiting the State. The Commission was informed that the Corporation is having an annual turnover of Rs. 18.16 crore with an authorized capital of Rs. 16 crore and paid up capital of Rs. 5 crore.  
It was given out in the meeting that JKTDC is a profit-making corporation and providing of additional financial inputs and upgradation of existing tourist infrastructure can go a long way in making it more profitable. Construction of five-star hotel in Srinagar and various other measures to be taken in hand to attract foreign and domestic visitors was also discussed threadbare.  
The meeting was informed that the gutted Pahalgam Club is being reconstructed at a cost of Rs. 13 crore with all modern facilities in tow. Besides, work on reconstruction of gutted Budshah hotel at the summer capital will also be taken up by June this year. 
Later, the Commission held another meeting with officers of Academy of Art, Culture and Languages and discussed measures for preservation and promotion of cultural heritage in the State. The need for providing more financial help for creating necessary infrastructure required for promoting heritage and culture of all the three regions of the State were also discussed. 
It is pertinent to mention here that J&K SFC is examining various levels of development in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Examining disparities and imbalance between regions and intra-regional disparities and suggesting a policy for equitable distribution of resources based on scientific criteria for balanced regional development comes under the terms of reference of the Commission.  

Call for setting up eco-friendly, viable units

Chief Secretary Mr. S. S. Kapur has called for establishing viable and cost-effective income generating units in the private sector for creating employment opportunities for the youth of the State. He stressed that the units should strictly follow the standards of pollution control norms.
Chairing the 25th meeting of the Apex Projects Clearance Committee (APCC) meeting, the Chief Secretary said every effort should be made to encourage the educated youth to take up entrepreneurship in a big way for improving the economic profile of the State.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Mr. Anil Goswami, Commissioner/Secretary, Finance, Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner/Secretary, Power, Mr. S. K. Naik, Chairman, Pollution Control Board, Mr. Lal Chand, Managing Director, SFC, Mr. R. K. Koul, Director, Industries and Commerce, Kashmir, Mr. Farooq Ahmad, Managing Director, SIDCO, Mr. B. S. Dua and representatives of J&K Bank.
The Chief Secretary underscored the need for establishing such units which are pollution-free and viable to promote employment opportunities in the State. He asked the Committee to encourage the entrepreneurs for setting up the units by providing them technical guidance and necessary back-up support. He instructed the Committee to submit feasibility report of various mega-business projects under their consideration within 15 days so that they are cleared for final approval.
The meeting accorded approval for setting up of two textile parks at Ghatti in district Kathua and Jammu coming up at the cost of Rs 1.30 crore. These parks will directly create job opportunities for 4,000 persons for which the Chief Secretary asked the Committee for getting certificate of land availability and acquisition rates from the concerned Deputy Commissioners.
The meeting also cleared establishment of two CA stores with a capacity of 3,500 MT and 2,000 MT respectively to be set up by local entrepreneurs in the valley.
Earlier, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, gave a detailed account of the progress of industrialization in the State.