Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the business community has expressed serious concerns after the authorities have directed them to pay the taxes till October 31, 2020.
The traders have said that they have already suffered huge losses and are not in a position to pay taxes at this juncture, saying that the deadline for paying the taxes should be extended till the ongoing situation improves on the ground.
The dealers in the occupied territory have expressed serious concern, stating that the pandemic had already pushed them towards starvation as all the business establishments remained closed and no business was conducted for nearly five months due to siege enforced by the authorities in wake of COVID-19.
One of the businessmen from South Kashmir said that all the business in the Valley was down for over a year now. The business has got badly affected from past one year after the abrogation of Article 370 last year and now the ongoing COVID-19 situation. He said that the authorities had earlier issued revised final dates but the situation was not favorable in the Valley for any sort of business but the revised date for paying taxes was merely a joke for the business community.
The aggrieved traders said that the authorities were well aware about the huge losses suffered by them due to continued siege.
“The business community is yet to resume the regular work since the lockdown hasn’t been eased completely across the Valley due to rising COVID-19 cases,” they said.
They also said that the authorities in India had started to rehabilitate the people linked with businesses to mitigate the losses but ‘we are being forced to pay the taxes that too at a time when the businessmen across the Valley have suffered huge losses.’—KMS
