State lost 16,000 Cr during 5 month Unrest : Govt Survey

Jammu and Kashmir has suffered a colossal loss of Rs 16,000 crore during the five months of shutdown and curfew in the Kashmir valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8 last year.
The cost of security-related expenditure is “over and above” the losses caused due to the unrest of 2016 in the state. The industry and tourism sectors were the worst affected as nearly 64 per cent of the tourist and working season was lost while the industry suffered a loss of Rs 13,291 crore during the 130 days of shutdowns and curfews.
“The general estimates of the losses caused due to the unrest are estimated at more than Rs 16,000 crore over a period of five months from July 8 to November 30 last year. The civil strife caused tremendous miseries, loss of life, complete halt of economic activities in the Valley coupled with loss of property,” said the Economy Survey-2016 report prepared by thestate government.
The report said: “Roughly, the hartals (shutdowns) engulfed the whole Valley for more than five months up to now. The continuous hartals, stone-throwing and curfews have resulted in a loss of the tourist season (July to October 2016), loss of working season, about 116 days of total working season of 180 days (May to October) in 2016. Thus, about 64 per cent of the tourist and working season has been lost.”
From July 8 to October last year, there was complete closure of all activities due to the turmoil, resulting in almost zero arrival of tourists in the Valley, it added.
The report further said that the estimated loss suffered by the industry during shutdowns and curfews (130 days) was pegged at Rs 13,291 crore comprising Rs 6,548 crore in the private sector and Rs 6,713 crore in the government sector.
“The estimated turnover and revenue loss in Rs 13,291 crore is of the order of Rs 11,555 crore (Rs 5,720 crore in the private sector and Rs 5,835 crore in the government sector) and Rs 1,736 crore (Rs 858 crore in the private sector and Rs 878 crore in the government sector), respectively,” the report suggested.
The report said the exposure to violence and armed conflict had reduced the quantity of education attained by children of conflict areas.
“Due to the closure of schools, the academic session got badly hit to the extent that it caused irreversible loss of study and tuitions to the students. There was a loss of 50 per cent content of the syllabus by the student community while 31 school buildings were gutted, including 17 fully and 14 partially, during the turmoil period,” the report said.

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