Jammu Apr 23 PTI In a historic decision for transformation and equitable development of Jammu and Kashmir 20 districts of the union territory have been granted capital expenditure of Rs 2212693 crore for 2022-23 officials said Asserting that Jammu and Kashmir government has achieved record-breaking milestone of completing 51891 projects in the last financial year Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha took yet another historic decision by approving district capex budget DCB for the year 2022-23 more than 75 per cent since last year for the equitable development of the union territory LG spelled out his goal to make development a powerful peoples movement and ensure timely completion of target as key to transformation of JK The unprecedented district capex budget for all 20 districts was approved during a high-level meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha here at the Civil Secretariat an official spokesman said Highlighting the key features of the DCB the Lt Governor observed that the plan has been finalized by adopting a bottom-up approach with active involvement of panchayats BDCs and DDCs The key objective of district plan is the empowerment of panchayati raj system and to strengthen grass root level democracy through participatory management he added In order to strengthen PRIs Rs 1000 crore has been allocated for Panchayats Rs 200 crore for DDCs and Rs 7125 crore for BDCs the Lt Governor observed The Lt Governor further said that it was with the active participation of PRIs we were able to achieve record-breaking milestone of completing 51891 projects in the last financial year These achievements are unprecedented and would not have been possible without dedication and teamwork of the PRIs officials and other stakeholders Timely completion of target is key to transformation he added The Lt Governor observed that JK administration has made Jan Bhagidari the cornerstone of project planning and execution process For the first time after the detailed deliberations a plan has been prepared with collective efforts of the PRIs and the administration aptly reflecting the developmental aspirations of our people he said Our aim is to make development a powerful peoples movement We are working to ensure people belonging to deprived section enjoy social justice equality and the last man on the socio-economic ladder receives equal opportunity the Lt Governor said The Lt Governor further called upon all stakeholders to maintain the highest standards of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the district plan besides focusing on key areas of youth engagement upgrading the health infrastructure patient care system improving quality of education strengthening of basic amenities timely implementation of projects which will collectively result in raising the socio-economic status of our people It was informed that keeping in view the needs in the rural areas Rs 1091408 crore under Jal Jeevan Mission JJM Rs 381442 crore under MGNREGA Rs 152959 crore under PMAY-G Rs 200112 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna PMGSY and Rs 4753 crore under Border Area Development Programme BADP have been earmarked during 2022-23 Atal Dulloo Additional Chief Secretary Finance Department gave details of the district-wise Capex budget via a Powerpoint presentation and explained the components of the budgets for respective districts PTI AB MR MR

Jammu Mar 25 PTI Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday termed the Rs 112 lakh crore annual budget as futuristic one and said that the union territory has got almost two-fold increase in the budget compared to that of erstwhile state of JK few years ago He said that a growth-oriented budget is aimed at ensuring developments of all sectors with focus on economic growth and fulfill the aspiration of the people The picture is clear The budget has almost doubled for this union territory as compared to Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh when it was not a union territory a few years ago This needs to be understood Sinha told reporters here Sinha elaborated his point by quoting the budgetary figures of the past few years In 2015-16 we had a budget of Rs 51670 crores followed by Rs 61480 crores in 2016-17 Rs 69728 crores in 2017-18 when Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh was a state In 2019-2020 the budget was Rs 88911 crores followed by Rs 101428 crores in 2020-21 and Rs 108621 crores in 2021-22 This year it has gone up to Rs 112950 crores he said Thanking the union government for increasing budget support the LG said that the aim is to ensure overall development in all the sectors and journey of continued peace and progress This budget will fulfill the aspiration of 115 crores people of Jammu and Kashmir It is a futuristic and growth-oriented budget he said The LG spelt out various components of the budgets and said that out of Rs 41335 crores of capital expenditure 61 per cent of this amount will be spent on social and infrastructure sectors and Rs 8085 crores will be spent on rural development The immediate goal is to accelerate the peace economic development in the union territory and make it multi-dimensional he said Sinha said that the budget reflects the needs and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and commitment of the UT administration for peace progress and prosperity The LG said that GDP for the year 2022-23 has been projected at Rs 203716 crores which shows a growth of 75 per cent Sinha highlighted the main focal areas of the budget on horticulture and tourism will be the main thrust areas He said that tourism has been the backbone of JKs economy and we will once again ensure that the tourism sector reaches the same height where it was a few decades ago The worlds highest rail bridge will be ready in the Reasi which will connect Kashmir with Kanyakumari by September this year he added PTI AB MR

Jammu Mar 24 PTI Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday unveiled Rs 34829 crore potential linked credit plan of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development NABARD for the union territory officials said Sinha said that credit plan will meet aspirations of the ural population bridge gaps in rural infrastructure and strengthen co-operative credit systems to transform agricultural economy The credit plan was announced at seminar organized by NABARD in Jammu for presenting the focus paper 2022-23 for JK covering physical and financial potential under agriculture allied activities and other priority sectors including the off-farm sector activities in the union territory Speaking on the occasion the LG underlined the need to focus on the development of rural economy for unlocking its full potential by filling the gaps vis--vis infrastructure human resources and financing NABARD has been a vital driver of the rural economy by meeting the basic needs of infrastructure under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund where 4178 projects have been completed in the last 26 years at a cost of Rs 8457 crores focusing mainly on irrigation and rural connectivity the officials said Highlighting that Agriculture Allied sector sustains over 70 per cent of population the Lt Governor also announced that NABARD and JKs Agriculture Department have jointly planned a development package of Rs 25991 crore to improve agricultural inputs farmers income through easy availability of credit technical up-gradation of agriculture and entire agriculture horticulture production chain The Lt Governor noted that this comprehensive plan was in line with the vision of the Prime Minister to double the farmers income In JK 36 Farmer Producer Organizations have been formed by NABARD which are benefiting about 6000 farmers and 26 more such organizations will be formed in this financial year decisively advancing the development of a strong base of modern agriculture and horticulture in the UT he added The Lt Governor expressed hope that NABARD will work closely with the UT administration in bringing self-reliance and efficiency in the Agriculture allied sector He noted that this year the UTs Agriculture department is distributing new high yield variety of seeds to about 9 lakh farmers besides targeting to link more than 33000 farmers with farm mechanization PTI AB MR MR