Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga today handed over authorization of financial assistance under State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS) to 13 girls.Under the scheme, each girl belonging to BPL family will get financial assistance of Rs 40,000 for their marriage.The Minister also distributed appointment orders among four candidates under SRO-43.While addressing the gathering, Ganga highlighted various social security schemes being run by the government for poor and neglected strata of the society. He also referred to increase in pension to widow, old age and physically handicapped persons.Managing Director, JK Minerals Ltd Abid Suhail, District Social Welfare Officer Mushtaq Choudhary and other officers were present at the programme.Later, the Minister inspected Export Oriented Handloom Development Project at Samba.
The Minister asked the officers to prepare a Detailed Project Report for improving the infrastructure of the project with focus on upgrading the existing machinery. He also enquired about procurement of raw material and existing market for finished products.The Minister directed the officers to ensure that quality is maintained during the production process and directed the concerned to explore the possibility of tie-up with Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute so that entrepreneurs and unemployed youth can get job opportunities under the programme.The Minister also visited Phase-I and Phase-III of Industrial Growth Centre Samba and directed revenue officials to fast-track land acquisition process for improving the road connectivity.The Minister was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner, Samba Sheetal Nanda, MD Handloom Development Corporation Showkat Ahmed Zargar, MD SIDCO Amit Sharma, Director Handloom Rajesh Sharma, ADC Samba Tilak Raj Sharma and other senior officials.