Hill Councils get Rs 148 cr
*Kiru, JTFRP given addl grants
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 15: The Lok Sabha today approved Rs 2504.46 crore as additional expenditure for Ladakh for transfer to Jammu and Kashmir on account of apportionment of liabilities between the two Union Territories, both of which were part of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir before August 5, 2019.
Significantly, the Union Finance Ministry through supplementary demands for grants for the financial year of 2025-26 has allocated Rs 340.15 crore for meeting additional expenditure towards equity contribution for the 624 MW Kiru project and Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP). Of this amount, Rs 154.81 crore have been earmarked as equity contribution for Kiru project and Rs 185.34 crore for JTFRP-an externally aided project.
Through the supplementary grants, the Union Finance Ministry has granted Rs 2504.46 crore to the Union Territory of Ladakh to meet additional expenditure for transfer to Jammu and Kashmir for apportionment of liabilities between the two UTs.
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Ladakh has also been sanctioned Rs 20.14 crore as additional expenditure for transfer to the UT of J&K for construction of the High Court complex at Jammu.
The Finance Ministry allocated Rs 148.64 crore to enhance budget allocation for two Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Ladakh including Leh and Kargil. While Kargil Hill Council is in place, Leh Council ceased to exist in October this year due to delay in timely elections and its powers have been given to the Deputy Commissioner Leh.
According to the apportionment of liabilities worked out between J&K and Ladakh UTs, two percent of the total liabilities of the erstwhile State of J&K-Rs 2504.46 crore-were transferred to the Union Territory of Ladakh.
Post the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir, a three-member committee headed by former Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and comprising retired IAS officer Arun Goyal and retired Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officer Giriraj Prasad Gupta, was constituted by the Government of India to work out the distribution of assets and liabilities between the two UTs.
The committee apportioned the assets and liabilities as per Section 84 and Section 85 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.
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