Top officials of Finance Deptt reach New Delhi
In last year of term; Panchayats, ULBs may get hefty grants
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 12: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present annual budget of Jammu and Kashmir for the financial year of 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha tomorrow along with supplementary demands for grants for the year 2022-23.
She will present fourth straight budget of Jammu and Kashmir in the Parliament in the absence of Legislature in the Union Territory.
Excelsior had a day before exclusively reported that annual budget of Jammu and Kashmir will be presented in the Parliament on opening day of budget session after month-long break i.e. March 13.
After presentation of budget, a day each will be reserved in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for discussion. The budget has to be approved before March 31.
List of business released by the Lok Sabha Secretariat this evening for March 13, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2023-24.
“The Finance Minister will also present a statement showing the supplementary demands for grants in respect of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2022-23,” the list of business said.
Officials said the budget has been given final touches by the Union Finance Ministry in consultations with Finance Department of Jammu and Kashmir.
Senior officials of the Finance Department have reached New Delhi to assist the Union Finance Ministry in case of last-minute queries on the budget.
In the Union budget for next fiscal, Jammu and Kashmir has been allocated Rs 35581.44 crore, of which Rs 33,923 crore is Central assistance, which is given to the Union Territories to meet their resource gap.
This will be fourth consecutive budget of Jammu and Kashmir which will be presented in the Parliament in the absence of Legislative Assembly in the Union Territory. Annual budgets of J&K for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 were also presented in the Parliament.
The budget for 2019-2020 was adopted by the then State Administrative Council (SAC) here while budget of 2018-19 was last to be presented in the Assembly of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir by then Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu before the Government collapsed after withdrawal of support to Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition.
“Till there is an elected Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the UT’s budgets will continue to be presented in the Parliament,” sources said.
During current financial year of 2022-23, Jammu and Kashmir was granted Rs 1,12,950 crore worth budget and for next fiscal year of 2023-24 it could go up as has been the case every year.
The Government is expecting healthy grants for District Development Councils, Block Development Councils, Panchayats and Municipalities in the budget, sources said. This is last year of five-year term of Panchayats and Municipalities. The term will end in December.
Before finalization of annual budget, the Finance Department officials held series of meetings with top officials in the Union Finance Ministry to discuss budgetary proposals of the Jammu and Kashmir administration.
Prior to this, the Finance Department held series of meetings with various departments to know their requirements in the budget for next financial year.
The Union Home Ministry has major say in budget of the Union Territories. This is more so in cases of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as it has to spend a lot on Security Related Expenditure (SRE) due to over three decades long militancy.
PTI Adds: The second leg of the Budget session will commence tomorrow with the Government asserting that its priority is to pass the Finance Bill and the Opposition planning to raise issues like the action of Central agencies against the BJP’s political rivals and allegations against the Adani group.
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
Congress leader K Suresh maintained that his party would continue to demand answers from the Government on the Adani-Hindenburg issue as it has been keeping a studied silence. The principal opposition party has been pressing for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.
The opposition parties are also likely to vociferously raise the issue of recent raids by the CBI and the ED against opposition leaders, some of whom were questioned and even arrested in various cases. They have accused the BJP-led Government at the Centre of misusing the Central agencies to target leaders of the BJP’s rival parties.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjunram Meghwal said that the top-most priority for the Government is the passage of the Financial Bill.
“After that we’ll look into the demands of the Opposition… The first responsibility of the Government is to get the Finance Bill passed. Then we will hold discussions on issues of the Opposition’s demands,” he said.
The session, which began on January 31, is likely to conclude on April 6. Parliament is meeting after a month-long recess which allows various Parliamentary panels to scrutinise allocations made in the Union Budget for different Ministries.
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