On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the union budget for Jammu Kashmir in Lok Sabha and 1, 08,621 crore rupees was governed.
The budget document reveals that its focus is on good governance, socio-economic development of the people, infrastructure building and generation of employment. 37 % of the earmarked budget is destined to be spent on development and infrastructure projects.
The total budget estimates for the next fiscal is 1,08,621 crore rupees, of 39,817 rupees are earmarked for capital expenditure and 68,804 crore rupees for revenue expenditure. 71.25 crore rupees have been proposed as ‘development fund’ for 285 block development councils. This means each BDC will get 25 lakh rupees as development.
The government has earmarked development funds for district development councils and block development councils. According to the budget document, 200 crore rupees have been earmarked for DDCs in the budget. This means each DDC will get 10 crore rupees each in 2021-22.
30 crore rupees for establishment of DDCs/BDCs offices in 2021-22. Around 1313 crore rupees have been provisioned for PRIs/ULBs for rural and urban infrastructure, the documents reveal. In the budget, 400 crore rupees has been provisioned for GST reimbursement to ensure timely reimbursement of the claims. Around 200 crore rupees has been set aside for the “Mission Youth program”.
The government has also kept a budgetary provision of 800 crore rupees for capitalization of the JK Bank Limited.
The budget also proposes to earmark 300 crore rupees for CRIF roads, 1500 crore rupees for PMGSY roads and 500 crore rupees for NABARD scheme and 28 crore rupees for maintenance of Mughal Road.
According to the document, 227.73 crore rupees have been allocated for establishment of 37 oxygen generation plants in all medical colleges, associated hospitals and district Hospitals of JK to cope up with additional requirement of medical oxygen due to COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the budget, 40 crore rupees have been earmarked as ex-gratia relief for COVID warriors. The budget document also states that two new medical colleges at Udhampur and Handwara (District Kupwara) have been approved at a cost of 325 crore rupees each.
The other key announcement vis-à-vis health sector is establishment of cancer institute at Srinagar and Jammu at a cost of 120 crore rupees each.
The budget document also states that 723 ICT labs will be established in equal number of Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools at a cost of 46.27 crore rupees.
According to the document, 245 works would be completed during 2021-22 which include construction of model schools, additional classrooms, lavatory facilities, smart class rooms.
In the budget, 200 crore rupees have been provisioned for development of new industrial estates in Jammu Kashmir during 2021-22.