Rs 42,277 Crore Allotted to J&K in Union Budget, Focus on Infrastructure and Disaster Response

The Centre has allocated Rs 42,277.74 crore to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the Union Budget 2024-25 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 has also allocated Rs 9,789.42 crore to the J&K Police, the budget document said.

Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and Rs 40,619.3 crore was allocated as Central Assistance to meet the resource gap in J&K.

It also includes Rs 7,900 crore, sanctioned as advance from the Contingency Fund of India that shall stand recouped to the fund after the Demands for Grants for 2024-25 is passed by Parliament and the connected Appropriation Act assented to by the President, the Finance Minister said in her budget document.

FM Sitharaman said that Rs 279 crore has been allotted to J&K as grants towards contribution to the Union Territory Disaster Response Fund to meet the expenditure on account of mitigation of disasters caused by natural calamities.

The Union Budget has allocated Rs 130 crore to the UT as grants towards the equity contribution for the 624-MW Kiru Hydro Electric Project (HEP) while an amount of Rs 476.44 crore has been granted towards equity for the 800-MW Ratle HEP.

Besides, a grant of Rs 500 crore has been provided to meet the expenditure on account of the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP).

The Centre has also allocated Rs 171.23 crore to Jammu and as grants for equity contribution for the 540-MW KWR HEP, the document said.

It has allocated Rs 101.77 crore as support for the Union Territory’s capital expenditure to meet the resource-gap funding for infrastructure projects.

(With inputs from IANS)