New Delhi: The Centre presented Tuesday Rs 1 lakh crore Budget for Jammu and Kashmir for 2020-21, and said the ‘highest ever’ allocations reflect its commitment to make the Union Territory ‘a model of development’. The government also presented a separate expenditure plan of Rs 55,317.81 crore for the last five months of the current fiscal.
The budget for 2019-20 and 2020-21, laid by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur in both Houses of Parliament, estimates capital expenditure at Rs 23,910.95 crore and revenue expenditure Rs 31,406.86 crore.
Thakur also tabled the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2019-20 for the erstwhile state for authorising payment and appropriation of Rs 208.70 crore from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the State for the period of seven months from April, 2019 to October 30, 2019.
The budgetary proposals and demand for grants are likely to come up for vote Wednesday in the Lok Sabha. Jammu and Kashmir was made a Union Territory with effect from October 31, 2019.
The original grant for the financial year 2019-20 was Rs 88,911 crore, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the speech laid in the both Houses of Parliament. She informed that the budget for 2020-21 for J&K shall cross Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time, an indicator of commitment to make the Union Territory a model of development.
“This is the highest ever budget envisaged for Jammu and Kashmir. The total budget estimates for the fiscal is Rs 1,01,428 crore, of which developmental expenditure is of the order of Rs 38,764 crore, an increase of 27 per cent,” Sitharaman said.
The finance minister expressed hope to achieve GSDP growth of 11 per cent, making the UT one of the fastest growing UTs/States.
PTI
