New Delhi, April 28: Lt. Governor, A & N Islands, Prof Jagdish Mukhi attended a meeting of Ministers /Secretaries (MSME/Khadi/Coir) of all the States /UTs held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Union Minister Shri. Kalraj Mishra, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Govt. of India today at National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Exhibition Complex, NSIC Bhawan, Okhla Industrial Estate, New Delhi. During the meeting, Lt. Governor raised issues relating to granting special package to A & N Islands at par with the North Eastern State on the ground that the Islands is categorized as Industrially Backward area by virtue of its geographical isolation, environmentally and V sensitive on defence point of view, limited land area availability for commercial, Industrial, Agricultural and other purposes. He emphasized the need for opening up of Branch Office of NSIC at Port Blair to enable the budding and new entrepreneurs to get assistance, guidance and support under various schemes of Govt. of India through them. The other points that were discussed in the meeting was related to re-instating Regional Office of KVIC at Port Blair for implementing PMEGP and other schemes of Khadi and Village Industries Commission, establishment of Business Incubator at Central Islands Agricultural Research Institute Campus, Port Blair for developing new value added products on Coconut and augmenting the limit of Margin Money allocation from existing 10% to 50% of the allocated budget for considering the projects under business/Trading sector.
Considering the level of constraints existing in the Islands for the Entrepreneurs due to various factors, the Minister assured to look into the matter and directed the officials to put up the matter at the appropriate level.
Smt. Rashmi Singh, Secretary (Ind) A&N Administration also accompanied the Lt. Governor.
