Budget Announcements for Financial Years 2022-23, 2023-24
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 15: Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has sought Action Taken Report (ATR)/progress from all the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments (HoDs) on the Budget Announcements for the Financial Years 2022-23 and 2023-24 by or before October 22, 2023.
The Budget for both these Financial Years was presented in the Parliament by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as in accordance with the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organization Act, 2019, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir continues to be under the President’s Rule and the powers of the Legislature of the Union Territory are exercised by or under the authority of the Parliament.
While sharing the Budget Announcements for these two Financial Years with all the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments, the Finance Department of the Union Territory has stressed that Action Taken Report/progress in this regard shall be furnished by or before October 22, 2023. The department has made it clear that non-compliance will be viewed seriously by the Government.
In the Budget for Financial Year 2022-23, it was mentioned that focus will be on good governance; deepening grass-root democracy; accelerated development and inclusive growth; facilitating investment and industrial growth; infrastructure development for improving quality of life and employment; youth initiatives and women empowerment and broadening social inclusion.
Among the major announcements were doubling of the farmers income by encouraging cultivation of high yield/high density crops and use of modern technology; completion of major civil and electro-mechanical works of Kiru, Kawar and Pakaldul Hydroelectric Projects; increasing transmission capacity; promotion of off-beat tourist destinations; exploring of unexplored tourist destinations through Public Private Investment model; completion of maximum possible projects under Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited etc.
The announcements were also made for establishment of 518 Smart/Virtual classrooms in Higher Secondary Schools for imparting quality education to students; creation of sports infrastructure in 100 schools (5 schools per district) and development of new industrial estates at Budhi Kathua, Mearth Ghatti, Rakh Rara Swankha Morh Samba & Katli Dhaini (Samba) in Jammu division and Khonmoh, Sempora, Chandgam Tahab, Hardoo Dahruna Dooru and Hassan Noor in Kashmir division.
In the Budget for Financial Year 2023-24, it has been mentioned that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed unprecedented level of development in various sectors since historic changes in August, 2019 and pace of development in all critical sectors such as power, tourism, road connectivity, urban sector, health, sports, water and rural development etc is remarkable.
The Finance Minister had stated that Jammu and Kashmir has been among top performers in the country for implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Amrit Sarovar, SVAMITVA Scheme, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Nasha Mukt Abhiyan and Renewable Energy Development. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir is among top performers in Agriculture Income, Ease of Living, Ease of Doing Business, Transparency, Sustainable Development Goals and One Nation One Ration Card.
The major announcements in Budget 2023-24 included operationalization of Cancer Institute Jammu; strengthening of Trauma Care facilities in accident prone districts through optimization of infrastructure, manpower and provisioning of high-tech equipments for emergency diagnosis especially in areas like Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban; declaration of all villages as Open Defecation Free Plus with implementation of all the components of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G).
Construction of 1500 new Panchayat Ghars under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA); improvement in daily hours of power supply with Urban- 24 Hours and Rural 22 Hours; reduction in transformer damage rate; drop in Transmission & Distribution/ Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses; providing Functional Household Tap Connections to all 18.36 lakh households; rejuvenation in phased manner all the identified water bodies in the Urban Local Bodies and full implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) are the other announcements for the current Financial Year.
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