Minister for Planning, Labour & Employment, Ajay Sadhotra while replying to a question raised by Shekih Ghulam Rasool in the LC said against the Total State Plan of Rs 7300 crore , Rs 1971.70 crore have been allocated to various districts during 2013-14 i.e. 27 percent of total State Plan. In addition funds available under Tribal Sub-Plan (STP), Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Bad Pocket Initiative and major component of Boarder Area Development Programme (BADP) and Special area Development Plan (SADP) to the tune of Rs 400 crore approximately are routed to the Districts through the concerned District Development Commissioners.He said the plan funds are being allocated to the districts on the basis of various parameters including Geographical area, population of the District, backwardness, availability of infrastructure in the district, requirement as assessed and projected by line Departments/District Development Commissioners, Developmental requirements on ground or demands projected by the Members of DDB, to meet the state share shortfall, completion of critical ongoing projects and availability of resources.
The Minister said that there is no J&K State Finance Commission Act 2008, and as such no State Finance Commission has been set up under such an Act. However, J&K State Finance Commission was constituted in September 2007 under Jammu and Kashmir State Finance Commission Act 2006 dated 31.10.2006. The State Finance Commission submitted its report on the last day of its extended term on 30.11.2010 to the Chief Minister, he added.
As per the cabinet decision, the recommendations of the State Finance Commission have to be examined by the Committee to be constituted for the purpose in the concerned departments for the implementation of the recommendations. He further said, as per the same cabinet decision, after examining the recommendations, the departments would submit their proposals with the approval of concerned Minister to a group of Ministers headed by the Minister for Finance for making final recommendations to the cabinet for the implementations of the recommendations. The proposal has been received from nine departments and is awaited from rest of the departments. The Group has to now consider these recommendations and make further recommendations to the cabinet when the proposal/recommendations are received from remaining departments.
The Minister reiterated that the State Government is committed to ensure equitable and balanced development of all the areas of the State with special focus on those areas which are lagging behind in the developmental process. Further, as and when the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on the report of State Finance Commission are accepted by the Cabinet, the process for allocation of the resources will be made accordingly, he added.In reply to another question by Mr. Jugal Kishore, Mr. Sadhotra said that Rs 152.88 lakhs and Rs 82.95 lakhs have been distributed under IAY in District Reasi during 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively against the allotted amount of 153.295 lakhs and Rs 83.47 lakhs respectively.The Minister said that IAY benefits are provided strictly as per the guidelines of IAY and waiting list is prepared at block level on the basis of BPL population. He said during the year 2002, a comprehensive survey was conducted by the Rural Development Department, which was updated in 2007 as per the standing instructions from Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and efforts were made to cover all the poor, landless and down trodden people in the BPL survey for providing benefits under the schemes in the State. Moreover, the Minister said that various Central and State departments are also involved in carrying out a comprehensive survey as per the latest formalities laid down by the Union Ministry of Rural Development to cover all such families.