Several members participated in General Discussion on Budget 2017-18 in the lower House today.Usman Abdul Majid while initiating the discussion on Budget, 2017-18, said that the current Budget holds lot of promise and Government needs to ensure every effort is made to deliver the said promises to the people. He further said that there are many areas in the State that still need focused development and efforts should be made to introduce schemes for revamping these rural and urban areas.Sat Paul Sharma lauded the Budget proposals presented by the Finance Minister, DR Haseeb Drabu. He called for fixing responsibility on officials while executing developmental works across the State. He also asked for inclusion of concerned legislators during the developmental plan formulation process for the constituency.Hailing the decision of comprehensive insurance cover for employees, the legislator advocated for an insurance scheme for crop and livestock losses to the people living alongside border areas of the State. He also lauded tax exemption on various edible and other items.
Calling the current budget as “revolutionary”, the legislator hoped that the promises including waiving of loans under Kissan Credit Card made during last year’s Budget will soon be delivered on the ground. He said that the new would certainly have a great positive impact on the socio-economic profile of the State.MY Tarigami lauded the budget proposals presented by the Finance Department and said that the promises made in the Budget should be implemented on the ground. Calling for measures to tackle the concerns of unemployment, he urged the Finance Minister for exploring exhaustive plan to generate employability in the State.He also called for taking concrete measures for ensuring regularization of need based, daily-rated and daily-wagers of the State. He said Government should adopt a humane approach to think about thousands of such daily-rated workers and other employees.
Tarigami lauded the Government’s scheme for reaching out to artisan community of the State and called for setting up of Social Security Board on the line of JK Construction Board, so that the issues concerning artisan community can be tackled and addressed in a coordinated manner. He said that art and artisans shouldn’t die for the want of schemes.
Choudhary Qamar Hussain lauded the budget for all its schemes and announcements. He said that reservation categories quota promotion is a serious issue and the Supreme Court directions should be implemented in this regard. He called for construction of Bafliaz tunnel and timely release of funds so that they can be utilized to the maximum effect.Ali Mohammad Sagar expressing displeasure over lack of provisions in the budget for the rehabilitation of 2014 flood victims said that opposition had lot of expectations from the Finance Minister however the current budget fails to address many issues of public importance.He called for speeding up the pace of work on power projects started by the previous Government. He said the Budget should be focused on devising economic mechanism to meet the current needs and demands of the state and should not be politically inclined.Pawan Kumar Gupta advocated for implementation of waiving up off Kisan Credit Loans as promised in the previous Budget. He further said that there are marked discrepancies in the funds available and those utilized on the ground in the budget. He also termed the projection of GDP as optimistic measure. He also criticized the setting up of asset recovery company (ARC).
Engineer Abdul Rashid called for enhancement of funds allocated to the districts and ensuring more involvement of the local representatives for need based and area specific utilization. He also pleaded for establishing of Tourism Development Authority in Karnah and Gurez, besides the holistic development of the tourist infrastructure of the Bangus Valley in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. He also called for taking steps for construction of the all-weather tunnels connecting Gurez and Karnah with the district headquarters.He advocated for increasing the waiving limit of KCC loans upto Rs 3 lakh and bringing J&K Bank under the ambit of 'Right to Information Act' in order to ensure transparency in its working.He also called for increase in the quantum of funds allocated under Constituency Development Fund and to come up with a comprehensive policy for ensuring preservation and restoration of Dal Lake.Nawang Rigzin Jora said that the Budget has no provisions for providing relief for the tourism sector which has suffered colossal damages during the unrest and is major contributor to the State’s economy. He called for major intervention from the Government in order to boost the Handicraft sector which has shown a decline during the preceding year. He also advocated for introducing Artisan Credit Cards (ACC) which would benefit the artisan community of the State.
Jora also called for major financial intervention in order to boost the agricultural and educational sector.Abdul Rahim Rather while participating in the debate on General Discussion on Budget 2017-18 said that Budget is a comprehensive win and needs to be appreciated.He said that measures should be taken to compensate the state on account of loses suffered due to Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and called for exploring measures to ensure that minerals of the state are judiciously extracted. He also called for taking the necessary steps to ensure that handicraft industry gets the requisite boost which would in turn contribute to the economy of the State in a big way.Rather also called for undertaking necessary measures for ensuring plantation of high density crop on a large scale in different parts of the state to boost horticultural produce. He hailed the Government’s initiate for undertaking for regularization of the daily-wagers, casual labours working in different departments of the State. He also demanded setting up of south campus of SKUAST-K so that the horticulturists get requisite scientific help and expertise.
Bashir Ahmad Dar terming the budget document as “people friendly” hailed the initiatives proposed by the Government. He said the losses suffered by State on account of IWT should be provided to the State and called for properly harnessing water resources of Jammu and Kashmir.Dar asked for judicious utilization of Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Package. He called for developing Bangus Valley and for proper and need based implementation of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and other schemes. He also advocated for properly equipping the police department with latest technology. He further asked Government to enhance the CDF upto Rs 4 lakh.Shakti Raj Parihar said that with the proper deliverance of promises made in the Budget, developmental agenda of the Government would soon be realized. He lauded the Government for implementation of 7th Pay Commission for employees with effect from April 1, 2018 and regularization of casual, daily rated, daily wagers. He hailed the Government for implementation of initiatives and programmes in the time-bound manner.
He called for establishment of Doda Tourism Development Authority and asked for waiving off of KCC loans. He called for augmenting the power sector which would resolve supply issues in the state besides opening employment opportunities for the youth. He further pleaded for granting the Pahari Status to the people of Doda district.Shamim Firdous expressed hope that the 7th Pay Commission would be implemented in its scheduled time. Terming the issue of regularization of casual, daily-rated and daily-wagers as a “human issue”, she asked for taking immediate measures in this regard.She called for taking steps for preservation of handicraft sector and also for renovation of the world famous Sulina Silk Factory besides invoking ban on Shahtoosh. She further called making loans available to the artisans involved in the Pashmina trade.She also demanded for taking comprehensive measures for preservation of various lakes in the Srinagar city like Kushalsar, Anchaar and the famous Dal Lake. She called for waiving off of loans to the business community who have suffered losses during the summer unrest in the Valley.
Vikar Rasool called for providing additional funds to the underdeveloped areas of the State to ensure their growth and development. He pleaded for early regularization of the causal, daily rated and daily wagers working in different departments. He advocated for separate budgetary provision for giving compensation to the people who get killed or injured in road and other tragic incidents. He also called for enhancement of Constituency Development Fund.
Mohammad Ashraf Mir while hailing the Budget presented by the Government, said that funds allocation to various sectors as part of the budget is revolutionary and need to be complimented. He hailed various initiatives proposed in the budget and hope that they would be instrumental in giving our economy the necessary and requisite boost. He pleaded for creating budgetary provisions for tourism sector and for enhancement of ReTs honorarium besides advocating for development of the network of emporiums. He also called for enhancement of the CDF. Ravinder Raina advocated for giving special focus on the industrial sector. He hailed the Government for considering regularization of casual labours, daily rated and daily wagers and hoped that the regularization process is completed in a time bound manner. He congratulated the Finance Minister for keeping sufficient budgetary provisions in Health and Medical sector. He pleaded for increase in honorarium in favour of Anganwadi Workers, Asha Workers, SPOs and ReTs.Javed Ahmed Rana while taking part in the discussions said that several measures should be taken to address the border issues of the state.