Five Jammu districts got Rs 1,358 cr outside investment in 5 years

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, June 18

After the abrogation of Article 370, as many as 451 micro, small and medium (MSM) industrial units have been established in five of the 10 districts of Jammu region.

The districts where these 451 industrial units have been set up are Kathua, Samba, Reasi, Ramban and Udhampur. Kathua and Samba are the major industrial districts of the division.

As per an RTI reply by the District Industries Centre of these areas, the data provided is from August 30, 2019 to April 1, 2024.

As per the records, only 83 units were set up by people who are non-residents of J&K in these five districts. The total investment brought by these units was Rs 1,358 crore.

The J&K government had earlier informed that a total investment of Rs 5,733 crore in entire UT was witnessed, generating an employment of 30,000.

Interestingly, 53 industrial units were also shut down or merged with existing units from the time period since 2019. In Kathua, 46 such units were shut or merged while in Udhampur, seven such units were shut. The Industries Department did not provide the data of Jammu district.

The administration of J&K has been trying to attract major investment in the UT. For this, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo has instructed the Power Department to develop the infrastructure in the industrial estates so that the units get the power to come into early production.

He has also asked the official to review all the land allotments made till date for making all of them carry out the ground-breaking exercise at the earliest.

As many as 46 new industrial estates have been developed across different districts of the UT. Land measuring around 21,389 kanals has been identified for more industrial estates.

As per the RTI reply, the majority of 136 industrial units have been established in Kathua. Of these, five units have been shut down. 3,691 people were employed by these 136 units set up since 2019.

In Udhampur, 52 units were established which generated an employment of 416. In Samba, 247 units were established that generated employment of 3,507. On the other hand, 13 industrial units established in Reasi generated employment for 339 people. In Ramban, only three units were established in five years.

J&K is witnessing growth in construction of highways and tunnel projects costing around Rs 60,000 crore, Udhampur-Baramulla rail line costing about Rs 40,000 crore, hydro power projects of Rs 20,000 crore, Jal Jeevan Mission of Rs 13,000 crore to provide drinking water to all besides 2 AIIMS, IIT, IIM and other infrastructure projects in medical and education sectors.