Minister for Finance, Labour & Employment and Culture, Dr Haseeb A Drabu held pre-Budget consultative meetings with J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Kissans and various Government Employees Associations, here today.Vice Chairman JKSABDK, Daljit Singh Chib, MLC Surinder Choudhary, Financial Commissioner Agriculture Production Department Pramod Jain and Commissioner Secretary Finance Navin Kumar Choudhary also attended the meeting.During the meeting, Vice-Chairman Daljit Singh Chib said that the J&K Kisan Advisory Board has been established to function as a bridge between the Government and the farmers. He further said that Budgetary provisions for the agriculture sector needs to be at least doubled so that the largest segment of the State’s population which is providing food to masses and Raw material for industries, besides services to the humanity is adequately cared for.He also demanded for the provision of States matching share to access Central funds.
During the meeting with Advisory Board For Development of Kisans, various suggestions pertaining to the development of agriculture sector were received from the members including storage facilities at Udhampur railway station, construction of check dams to promote mountain farming, subsidy on diesel for tractors being used in farming, subsidy on mechanized farming equipments, State Disaster Response Fund to the farmers should be made operational, Tissue culture labs should be given priority, release of pending subsidy amount on bore-wells, opening of canals in winter season, toll tax on import of flowers from outside, revolving fund for access to Centre Sponsored Schemes (CSS), special package for dry spell affected farmers, contributory insurance, establishment of permanent mandis, special allocation for subsidy in border areas, toll exemption on potato seeds, additional subsidy on pesticides and seeds, development of irrigation system in the state, special awareness camps for the farmers to educate them about modern methods being used in farming, establishment of cold stores, motor pumps imported from outside should be made tax free, policy for promoting dairy farming in the state and others.
On the occasion, Government Employees Associations including J&K Civil Secretariat Employees Coordination Committee, J&K Employees Joint Action Committee, J&K Employees Joint Action Committee (K), State Government Employees Joint Action Committee (SGEJAC), All J&K Diploma Engineers Association, J&K State Road Transport Corporation Workers Union, All J&K Patwar Association, J&K Commercial Taxes Non-Gazetted Employees Association Jammu, J&K Electrical Engineering Graduates Association, All J&K Pensioners & Civil Society Association, Casual/Need Based PHE Employees Union (Jammu Province), All J&K NHM Employees Association and All J&K Non Gazetted Forest Officers Association put forth their demands.Main demands highlighted in the meeting by participating associations included removal of pay anomalies of all cadres, implementation of 7th Pay Commission Report, policy for regularisation of daily rated casual, seasonal, temporary workers working in different departments, implementation of minimum wages act, financial support and revival of sick Public Sector Enterprises, enhancement of medical allowance, uniform HRA to all employees, filling of all vacant posts in different departments, regularization of salaries of employees working under SSA, RMSA, NPS, SBM and contingent paid workers, restoration of LTC, border allowance for employees working in border areas, release of pending DA, facilities for Durbar move non-gazetted employees, online GP Fund account, development of infrastructure for Patwar halqa and timely DPCs for Patwaris.While interacting with the associations, Dr Drabu assured them that their genuine demands and grievances would be looked into and redressed accordingly. He said the Government is aware of the problems being faced by the employees and these would be solved in a time bound manner.