Ratle, Kiru, Kwar projects in Kishtwar get funding
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced Rs 500 crore provision for Jhelum Tavi Flood Recovery Project and Rs 476 crore for Ratle hydro electric project in a total of Rs 37277.74 crore worth grants given to Jammu and Kashmir in the interim budget for the year 2024-2025 presented by her in the Parliament today.
Jammu and Kashmir’s interim budget is scheduled to be presented by the Finance Minister during ongoing session of the Parliament separately.
Total grants of Rs 37277.74 crore have been given to Jammu and Kashmir for next financial year of 2024-25 as against Rs 35581.44 crore given in 2023-24 which have subsequently been revised to Rs 41751.44 crore.
As per the budget documents, Rs 500 crore Revenue grants have been given to Jhelum Tavi Flood Recovery Project, Rs 476.44 crore to Ratle 800 MW hydro electric project, Rs 171.23 crore to Kwar hydro electric project and Rs 130 crore to 624 MW Kiru hydro electric project. All power projects are being constructed in Kishtwar district of Jammu region.
Rs 101.77 crore worth grants have been given to Jammu and Kashmir in the budget as support for Capital Expenditure of UT while Rs 279 crore worth funds are for Disaster Response.
Rs 35619 crore accounted for Central assistance to Union Territories.
As per the budget documents, the Finance Ministry in last budget announcements proposed realizing the vision of `Make AI (Artificial Intelligence) in India and Make AI work for India’ and setting up of three Centres of Excellence for AI in top educational institutions.
“The scheme shall be implemented by an Apex Committee comprising industry and academic experts and representatives from the concerned Line Ministries. Central Project Management Unit (CPMU) at IIT Jammu has been established which will support the Apex Committee in timely execution and monitoring of the project,” the budget document said.
It added that for setting up of three Centres of Excellence—one each in Health and Agriculture sectors and Sustainable Cities, the Expenditure Finance Committee has approved a total financial outlay of Rs 990 crore for a period from 2023-24 to 2027-28 which include Rs 310 crore for each of the three CoEs, Rs 25 crore (Rs 5 crore per year) for CPMU, Rs 30 crore for Phase-I proposals and Rs 5 crore for middle/final evaluation.
As per the budget document, with the approval of e-Committee Supreme Court of India, the Department of Justice has release Rs 102.5 crore for BSNL and NIC and Rs 110.24 crore have been sub-allocated to 26 High Courts including the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir for scanning and digitisation, establishment of e-Sewa Kendras, procurement of hardware and solar power backup etc.
Among the paramilitary forces, Rs 32809.65 crore was given to the CRPF from a revised estimate of Rs 31389.04 crore in 2023-24, Rs 25027.52 crore to the BSF (Rs 25038.68 crore in 2023-24), Rs 13655.84 crore to CISF (Rs 12929.85 crore), Rs 8253.53 crore to ITBP (Rs 8203.68 crore in 2023-24), Rs 8485.77 crore to SSB (Rs 8435.68 crore in 2023-24) and Rs 7368.33 crore to the Assam Rifles (Rs 7276.29 crore in 2023-24).
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is mostly deployed for internal security duties, operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxals in Central and Eastern India and the insurgents in the Northeast.
The Border Security Force (BSF) mostly guards the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir besides Indo-Bangladesh border. It is also deployed internal security duties. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guards vital installations like nuclear plants, airports, metro networks.
The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) guards the Sino-Indian border including in Eastern Ladakh while, the Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) guards the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, the Assam Rifles protects India’s border with Myanmar.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been allocated Rs 3195.09 crore (Rs 3268.94 crore in 2023-24), Rs 11177.50 crore have been given to Delhi Police (Rs 11940.33 crore in 2023-24) and Rs 506.32 crore to the Special Protection Group (SPG) (Rs 446.83 crore in 2023-24).
The IB is India’s internal intelligence agency, the Delhi Police guards the national capital and the SPG provides the security to the Prime Minister.
The budget allocated Rs 3199.62 crore for security related expenditure and Special Infrastructure Scheme for Left Wing Extremist Areas, Rs 335.00 crore for Border Area Development Programme, Rs 214.44 crore for safe city projects, and Rs 330.00 crore for Land Port Authority of India.
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