Nasir Azam
Srinagar, Feb 1: The Centre on Thursday allocated Rs 37,277.74 crore to Jammu & Kashmir in the interim budget for 2024-25. The budget was unveiled by Finance Minister Dr Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha today.
Of the allocated amount, Rs 35,619.30 have been kept as central assistance to bridge the resource gap of the UT.
According to budget documents, Rs 279 crore have been allocated to the Union Territory Disaster Response Fund. The UT Disaster Response Fund would be utilized to meet the expenditure on account of mitigation of disasters caused due to natural calamities.
Rs 130 crore and Rs 476. 44 crore and Rs 171.23 crore grants have been respectively allocated to equity contribution for 624 MW Kiru, 800 MW Ratle and 540 Kawar hydroelectric power projects.
In the budget, Rs 500 crore have been earmarked for Jhelum-Tawi Flood Recovery Project, whose deadline for completion was recently extended by the World Bank by one more year.
According to documents, Rs 101. 77 crore have been allocated to meet resource gap funding for infrastructure projects.
This was the last budget of the BJP-led government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in April-May this year.
