Jammu and Kashmir is set for an economic surge, riding on a whopping  Rs 1,08,621 crore budget this year, which will be channelled into big infra projects and home grown enterprises.

If all goes well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi could visit Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after it’s Statehood and the special status was withdrawn in August 2019. Inauguration of a modern 8.5 km long 4-lane highway tunnel,  the Jawahar Tunnel in the Pir Panjal mountain range, linking Banihal and Qazigund towns on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, is said to be on the cards. “We are planning a host of inaugurations and foundation stone laying ceremonies across the Union Territory”, said a senior official.  
he budget 2021-22 focuses on Good Governance aimed at maximum governance and minimum government, socio-economic development of the people, development of infrastructure across J&K, and employment generation. It envisages capital expenditure of Rs 39,817 crore against the revenue expenditure of Rs 68,804 crore.

Before unleashing a Rs 28,400 crore industrial development spree around 10 April, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is expected to visit Mumbai and New Delhi to attract some big business houses for manufacturing and services sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. All the new entrepreneurs would get full reimbursement of entire GST remittances for 10 years in addition to low-interest bank loans and interest subventions. While most of the officials believe that work would start for approved projects worth around Rs. 10,000 crore, a senior bureaucrat insists that the investment would touch Rs 1 lakh crore in the next two years.  

“Agriculture, horticulture and food processing would be the top priority areas. The entrepreneurs would get nothing of the sort of the J&K incentives in the neighbouring States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Why should they to Punjab and Himachal?” a senior agriculture scientist asserted. He said that the unit holders would get 30 to 50% subsidy upon completion of their projects. According to him, Kashmir alone produces 22 lakh metric tonne of apple.

Leveraging its exotic agricultural economy, developing a cold chain network would be key in the rise of new Kashmir. “We need minimum of 7 lakh MT capacity of CAS (controlled atmosphere storage) for the apple alone. Our total storage capacity at the moment is 1.25 lakh MT. We will have enough business for over 50 new CASs”, Principal Secretary Agriculture, Horticulture and Agriculture Production Navin Kumar Choudhary said.

Focusing on the empowerment of newly elected District Development Councils (DDCs) and Block Development Councils (BDCs) , the Central Government has kept a provision of Rs 200 crore for 20 DDCs of Jammu and Kashmir and Rs 71.25 crore for 285 BDCs as `Development Fund’.

Further, Rs 30 crore have been earmarked for establishment of DDC/BDC offices, while there is a provision of Rs 1313 crore for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)/Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) for rural and urban infrastructure and Rs 80 crore for PRI Security.

 An amount of Rs 28 crore for development of the Mughal Road, linking Shopian in Kashmir and Rajouri in Jammu,  Rs 60 crore for the new tourist circuits including Mansar, Surinsar, Wular and Bangus and Rs 20 crore for new ropeways are the key features of the J&K budget.

The budget proposes Rs 40 crore as ex-gratia relief for COVID warriors, Rs 50 crore for construction of bunkers in border areas, Rs 50 crore for two Medicities, Rs 10 crore for Drug De-addiction/rehabilitation centres, Rs 200 crore for Metro Corporations, Rs 150 crore for Dal Development and conservation, Rs 100 crore as City Grants for Jammu and Srinagar cities, Rs 200 crore for Smart City projects and Rs 2 crore as UT matching share for the Devika project in Jammu’s Udhampur district. 

The Union Government has also earmarked Rs 800 crore for capitalization of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited and Rs 400 crore for GST reimbursement. 

The budget has focused on enhanced allocation to all departments. The Road & Bridges Sector (R&B) has sanctioned Rs 4089 crore for different projects, an increase of Rs 467 crore, Power gets Rs 2728 crore, up by Rs 119 crore, Health and Medical Education Rs 1456 crore, up by Rs 188 crore, Agriculture and Horticulture Rs 2008 crore, Rs 695 crore more than that of 2020-21. 

Rs 4817 crore infrastructure development plan, up by Rs 342 crore, Animal and Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Rs 338 crore, increase of Rs 36 crore, Industries and Commerce Rs 648 crore, Rs 291 crore extra, Social Security Sector Rs 174 crore, which is hike of Rs 59 crore, Jal Shakti Department has been given steep hike of Rs 5102 crore in the budget with total allocation of Rs 6346 crore while Housing and Urban Development sector gets Rs 2710 crore, up by Rs 1432 crore from current year. 

Education sector has been allocated Rs 1873 crore, Rs 523 crore extra than this fiscal year. Tourism and Culture sectors get Rs 786 crore, a hike of Rs 509 crore from this year’s budget, Rs 513 crore for Sports, up by Rs 17 crore, Rs 218 crore for Forests, Ecology and Environment, up by Rs 3 crore and Rs 214 crore for Science and Technology and Information technology. Rs 846 crore have been earmarked for the Kashmiri migrants.