JAMMU: Budget 2017-18, presented by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on Wednesday, evoked mixed reaction during general discussion in Legislative Assembly on Thursday. In all, 12 members participated in the discussions.
Slamming the PDP-BJP dispensation on the Budget, mainstream opposition National Conference on Thursday said that the content of the budget presented by the government is copied from the ‘internet’ and already submitted in their proposals by other states.
“You have copied the budget content and speech from the internet and the proposals made and offered in it, are already submitted by some other states of the country,” Devender Singh Rana, NC MLA said while speaking in the House.
Rana also handed over printed copies to the Speaker Kavinder Gupta claiming that J&K Budget is ‘downloaded’ from various sites on internet.
Calling the Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu a dream merchant, Rana described the budget as jugglery of words, saying, the minister has mesmerised the people of the State every time.
The NC leader rued the Finance Minister for eroding the values through stories and never allowed the truth to come out.
“I know being an economist, you (yourself)…are not convinced with the Budget and you are claiming that your pre-budget proposals were accepted by the Union Government,” Rana said.
“You claimed that the Union Government was also impressed by your power point presentation, which means that your thoughts reflecting in policies are also in the programs of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,” he said.
He lampooned the state budget terming it as another dream shown by the Government of dream merchants to befool different sections of population through catalyzing their aspirations by promising endowments and bounties in the times to come which can never become reality. “The government has nothing to offer to common masses, employees, unemployed, marginalized sections, and aged in this budget crafted with ‘jugglery of words’ except promises to address woes of daily-rated workers, agitating employees, directionless youth and sick industry reeling under indifference of this dispensation for the past nearly two years”, Rana said.
Slamming the state government for its failure to keep the commitments made in the earlier two budgets, Rana said the budget presented by the PDP-BJP combine government has once again a ‘dream seller’ much away from the ground reality.
Rana said the story of the economy is dismal. There has been an economic decline in 2014-15 because of the floods by minus one per cent. The industrial sector has plunged by Rs 13,200 crore in the first half of the financial year. He decried the government for projecting and expecting a growth of 3.9 per cent for the sector which means that Rs 23,710 crore plus 13,200 crore, (the deficit) plus 3.9 per cent to give you the growth.
Comparing the growth story of National Conference-Congress combine tenure, Rana was critical of the jugglery of numbers by the present regime to achieve the target and a higher growth rate. He said the key economic drivers of an economy are the capital investment and financing the employment rate, labour and infrastructure have a negative growth with dismal picture of development. On the employment front the National Conference leader casted a gloomy picture.
He also said the infrastructure sector has witnessed the worst growth. So by all parameters, the economy is going down. Here he said, “I would like to tell the government that when Abdul Rahim Rather presented 2010-11 budget, after 2010 turmoil, he scripted a growth story and delivered it too. However, it doesn’t seem so here in the present Budget”. Rana also spoke about retaining the autonomous nature of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and said that there are NPAs of Rs 6,000 crore.
According to official handout, 12 members participated in general discussion on the Budget proposals.
While lauding the Budget, Raja Manzoor Ahmad said the special provision has been kept for the transport sector and other sectors.
He termed the decision on regularisation of contractual and daily wagers as a revolutionary step, besides welcoming the establishment of the Press Club in Srinagar and increase in advertisement rates for newspapers and periodicals.
While appreciating the Finance Minister for presenting people friendly Budget, Choudhary Sukhnandan Kumar said the announcement of toll tax exemption on various edible items is a welcome move. He favoured Market Intervention Scheme in Agriculture sector and called for providing special power supply for the use of agricultural purposes.
Hakeem Muhammad Yasin Shah said there should have been a mention of provision for Anganwari and Aasha workers. He said the issue of casual labours, daily-rated workers and daily wagers should be solved without any political interest and interference.
He said there is no mention of how the farmers would avail the subsidy on fertilisers, pesticides and other allied agriculture and horticulture inputs. He also pleaded for incentives for the Tourism sector including Shikarawallas.
Aijaz Ahmad Khan criticised the Budget for ignoring the vital sectors of industry and agriculture, besides calling for taking long-term measures for bringing back these key sectors on the track.
Khan also called for taking up concrete measures for providing employment to the educated youth of the State so that the problem of unemployment can be tackled and proper channelisation of human resource is done.
Mian Altaf Ahmad, while taking part in the debate called for early implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and requested the Finance Minister for setting a deadline in this regard. He said the 7th Pay Commission recommendations should be implemented from June this year so that the employees of the State too avail the benefits like the employees of the other states of the country.
He also called for relaxing the norms of the loans to be given to the youth and aspiring entrepreneurs, besides asking the government to translate their plans on the ground.
Shah Muhammad Tantray called for providing special facilities to the people living alongside borders, saying that they face great inconveniences due to the lack of various facilities. He asked the government to address the issue of unemployment and called for providing Chopper services to various far-flung and inaccessible areas of the State.
He also called for increase in the honorarium of the ReTs and increase in Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 4 crore. He also demanded opening of Degree College at Haveli, Mandi Poonch.
While lauding the Finance Minister for his approach to revamp the economical profile of the State, Dalip Singh Parihar said the Budget would further raise the socio-economic status of the people of the State.
While taking part in the debate, G. M Saroori said the initiation of establishing Basmati and Rajmash village by the government is a great step but the implementation process needs to be expedited. He further insisted on ensuring that benefits from the schemes like PMGSY, NABARD and CRF reach the people in far-off areas.
He called for setting aside budgetary provision for Singhpora-Sinthan tunnel which would ensure better connectivity of different areas of Chenab Valley region with Kashmir besides all-round connectivity with Bani, Basohli and Lakhanpur throughout the year.
He put forth suggestions for conducting survey for Kishtwar-Anantnag railway track to provide alternate transport connectivity to the area. He also called for enhancement of CDF and relief package for 2014 flood victims of the State.
While expressing dissatisfaction over the Budget, Mubarak Gul said the Budget lacks mention of measures for rehabilitation of 2014 flood victims. He said that except for transporters, no other sector that suffered during 2016 unrest has been given coverage in the Budget.
He alleged that no measures have been mentioned in the Budget for preserving the rich cultural and historical heritage of Srinagar.
He said the state government has an asset at JK House Malabar Hills in Bombay which has suffered neglect over the years and urged for making necessary arrangements for its renovation and revival.
Mubarak Gul also called for enhancement in CDF, which was also endorsed by other legislators during the debate.
Syed Asgar Ali Karbalie said Ladakh region has not been given enough attention
in the Budget and urged the government to reach out to people of far-flung areas of Ladakh region with welfare and development schemes.
Lauding the Crop Insurance Scheme, Karbalie called for including apricot crops into the scheme as well. He requested for starting chopper services to the far-flung and inaccessible areas of the State including Ladakh, Kargil and other areas.