Srinagar, Aug 30 - Finding it hard to even pay wages to its over 1,700 employees, Jammu and Kashmir Industries, an umbrella organisation for state government-run firms, may sell assets and close down many of its ventures in the industrially backward state.

The group, which has been criticised for alleged mismanagement, has 16 manufacturing units under its wing and has accumulated losses of over Rs.375 crore (Rs.3.75 billion) since it was incorporated in 1963 with a share capital of Rs.20 crore.

'We have to sell our industrial land and other assets or the government should come to our rescue by reviving the enterprise with a huge financial support to sustain us,' an official, who did not want to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told IANS.

The group has already shut down seven of its industrial units, including a spinning mill and a leather plant, and two other factories in Jammu, and a ply board and a pharma unit in Kashmir.

To cut expenses, the company has proposed to cut down staff of a joinery mill, a woollen apparel manufacturing unit and a silk factory in Srinagar, as well as a knitting factory, a joinery mill in Jammu and its liaison office in Delhi.

In addition, the firm has already sold 25 hectares of land to government departments for around Rs.80 crore to square off its liabilities, which also run in crores.

According to a source, the group has short-listed nearly 1,000 employees for a voluntary retirement scheme under which they will be given one-time settlement packages.

Getting a budgetary support of over Rs.3 crore by the state government , the current annual turnover of the company is around Rs.