Srinagar, Sep 7 (KNN) Federation of Industries Jammu (FOIJ) pleaded to Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha to save  Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from closure in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which have been suffering since Abrogation of Article 370 and now due to COVID-19 situation since March 25th, 2020.

FOIJ on Monday said that it is the need of the hour to save the existing industrial units of the state who are working in spite of all the odds since the last 30 years.

''They have limited marketing avenues due to landlocked states surrounded by China and Pakistan.

The industries body also said that since August 5th, 2019, numbers of representations have been given by the stakeholder of Jammu as well as Kashmir but no action has been taken by the state administration to resolve the issues of the industrial sector.

''Units here provide employment to around four lakh local people of the state,'' it added.

''It is worthwhile to mention here that on one side the government is going to spend crores for the development of new industrial estates but on the other side the employment graph in Jammu province has declined in the industrial sector in the last three years. Nearly, 523 units have started the production with employment of just 6462 employees due to non-availability of state fiscal incentives for new units in post GST regime,'' FOIJ said.

FOIJ requested the Governor to intervene into the matter and solve the issues.