(PTI)
A spate of national-level conferences in Srinagar may be keeping the already hard-pressed police force on its toes, but the administration hopes the meets will give a boost to Kashmir’s crumbling tourism industry.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be addressing a conference of ministers and officials on GST (Goods and Service Tax) in Srinagar later this week. The city’s shopkeepers and hoteliers hope that the conference will help traders do business in the season of protests that has severely hit tourism.
For the Jammu and Kashmir Police, busy fighting militancy and controlling student protests, the conferences are an additional burden on an already over-stretched force. But a senior police official said as long as the meetings promoted tourism, helping traders and others, the police were ready to go the extra mile. “If the locals do not invest in peace in the Valley, we may not be able to have the desired results,” the official said.
