Union Minister for Textiles, Commerce and Industries and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal visited Pahalgam.

The Union Minister inspected stalls put up by various departments including Animal Husbandry, District Industries, ICDS, Social Welfare, Horticulture, Sheep Husbandry, Handloom and Handicrafts deptt. among others.

Union Development Commissioner Handicrafts, Shantmanu, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Ranjan P Thakur, Commissioner Secretary FCS&CA, Zubair Ahmad, DDC Chairman Anantnag, DC Anantnag and other officials of district administration were present on the occasion.

Shri Piyush Goyal, while interacting with various officials at the stalls, took a brief description of the various products on display. He also inquired regarding the production of these products. He specially laid emphasis on promoting products that can add up to the export potential of the UT. He gave directions to the district administration to extend all possible support to the local entrepreneurs and artisans for increasing productivity.

The minister also distributed baby kits among newly born female infants under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme. Under the Ladli Beti scheme, grants were distributed among beneficiaries. He distributed sanction letters among beneficiaries for purchase of milk vans. Tricycles were also distributed among specially-abled persons through social welfare department.

The Union minister met delegations of recently elected PRI members who apprised the minister of their active participation in the planning and execution process. The delegation commended the efforts of district administration for taking them onboard in development decisions.

Shri Goyal, while appreciating the efforts of the district administration in taking PRIs onboard, assured the PRIs of speedy redressal of all the grievances raised. He directed the district administration to work out plans for home stay tourism in Pahalgam that will both boost the local economy and add to the tourist potential of Pahalgam. He laid emphasis on the role of PRIs as public representatives and conduit for directing grievances of the common masses to the district administration.

Shri Piyush Goyal also met a delegation of Industrialists from the valley. The industrialists apprised the minister of local issues being faced by the industry. There was thorough discussion on bottlenecks in export of Kashmiri shawls. There was also discussion regarding the new industrial package and need to extend the package to existing industrial units to ensure their growth.

The minister assured the delegation of all possible support from the central government for promotion of local industries. Taking immediate action on bottlenecks faced in export of shawls and directed the authorities to setup testing facilities at Srinagar and Delhi airport while simultaneously upgrading the local testing facilities with state of the art machines.

He also proposed the setting up of a carpet village that will act as a demonstration centre of the local craft to visiting tourists and also promote the local carpet industry globally. He laid stress on the fact that local industry players should play by their strengths and setup units where the UT has a comparative advantage to ensure sustenance of the industries being setup.

The Minister is on a two day visit and will inaugurate various developmental works.

Promotion of local industry through export facilitation and testing infrastructure to bolster artisanal competitiveness. The Minister directed district administration to support entrepreneurs and artisans by promoting export-capable products, upgrading local testing facilities and setting up testing at major airports to remove export bottlenecks; he proposed a demonstration carpet village and advised industry to align with the UT's comparative advantages while emphasising the role of PRIs in planning, grievance conveyance, and promoting home stay tourism.