Release of Business Rules to come up for discussion
*Many J&K-specific issues likely to figure
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 17: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah tomorrow and interact with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on December 20 in Rajasthan with issues like next year’s budgets and other Central grants on agenda.
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Omar’s meeting with Shah tomorrow comes a day ahead of a high-level security review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir called by the Home Minister in New Delhi and amid reports that the ‘Business Rules’ for the Union Territory could also be released any time now.
Sources told the Excelsior that the Chief Minister, who also holds portfolio of Finance, is likely to take up the issues related to J&K’s budget for next financial year of 2025-26 as well as pending grants of current financial year with Shah. The Home Ministry holds most of the grants of the UTs though they are released by the Union Finance Ministry.
Budget of Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be presented in the Legislature either by the end of January or start of February though the schedule for the session hasn’t been released by Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather so far.
“Apart from the budget, the Chief Minister is likely to take up a host of other issues with the Home Minister including release of ‘Business Rules’ for Jammu and Kashmir which are also expected to be issued within a fortnight,’’ the sources said.
A number of other issues may also figure at the meeting.
This will be second meeting between Omar Abdullah and Amit Shah after the former took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16 this year. He met Shah on October 23 and submitted him a copy of the resolution adopted by the Cabinet on restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. He also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Government functionaries.
Significantly, Shah has called a security review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi on December 19 which among others will be attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, top brass of civil and police administration from the UT and senior officers of MHA, Army, paramilitary forces and Intelligence agencies.
The Chief Minister will also attend a meeting of State/UT representatives called by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Jaisalamer in Rajasthan on December 20 and present case of Jammu and Kashmir for adequate financial grants.
Jammu and Kashmir’s budget for current financial year of 2024-25 was to the tune of Rs 1,18,390 crore while for 2023-24, the budget stood at Rs 1,18,500 crore. During the financial year of 2022-23, the UT’s budget was to the tune of Rs 1,12,950 crore.
The Union budget assumes significance for J&K as it has significant dependence on resources of the Union Government.
In the 2024-25 budget, the Centre allocated Rs 42,277.74 crore to Jammu and Kashmir with a hike of 1.2 per cent from the Rs 41,751.44 crore given in the last fiscal.
In addition to the total budget of Rs 42,277.74 crore, the Centre also allocated Rs 9,789.42 crore to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Omar during his meeting with Sitharaman in October sought additional Central assistance of Rs 6000 crore to bridge the resource gap for financial year 2024-25.
He had also requested the Finance Minister to consider Jammu & Kashmir for funding through the “Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment” scheme under which a 50-year interest-free loan would be provided to States for capital expenditure.
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