Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday termed the recent India-U.S. trade deal “detrimental” to the Union Territory’s dry fruit and horticulture industry.
“I am still studying the finer details of the deal. However, duty-free import of tree nuts, dry fruits, fresh fruits, and dairy from the U.S. will hit J&K very badly. If not dry fruits, at least our apple industry could have been safeguarded. Where is the concern for J&K?” Mr. Abdullah said during the ongoing Budget Session of the Assembly.
The Chief Minister also defended the welfare measures introduced in the J&K budget and accused Opposition parties of criticising it “for the heck of it”.
On Peoples Democratic Party legislator Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra’s criticism of accepting the Centre’s Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme as “a market loan and a debt trap”, Mr. Abdullah said there is a need to study the scheme before voicing criticism.
“If we raise a loan of ₹3,000 crore under the scheme, after 50 years, we only have to pay ₹97 crore as interest if the inflation rate is taken into consideration. It is not even ₹100 crore. Does this deal make sense or not? This money through the scheme is an achievement,” he said.
