Presenting his first budget in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Sunday, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said the government would not seek any financial assistance from the Centre other than what was provided for in the Constitution for all special category States.
“In common parlance, I am asserting that I shall not go with a begging bowl to New Delhi,” Mr. Drabu said. “This, despite the fact that we not only have a friendly government at the Centre, we also have an exceptionally sensitive and accommodating Union Finance Minister,” he added.
Mr. Drabu said the goal of the PDP-BJP government was economic self-reliance and fiscal autonomy.
In 2015-16, the total public expenditure was budgeted at Rs. 46,473 crore. Of this, Rs.11,246 crore was for building assets and infrastructure, while the remaining Rs. 35,227 crore was for current or revenue expenditure. “This is not a good position to be in. In fact, if anything, it should be exactly the other way round. But there is no way I can help, as it is a legacy of the last 30 years if not more,” Mr. Drabu said.
The Finance Minister said the total revenue receipts of the State in 2015-16 were budgeted at Rs. 42,137 crore, leaving a resource gap of Rs. 4,336 crore, which was going to be financed by prepositioning of the 14th Finance Commission grants without seeking any additional funding.
The budget placed rehabilitation of the flood-affected and flood-impacted areas as a top priority besides focussing on restoring livelihood and facilitating businesses.
Mr. Drabu also announced the outsourcing or privatisation of toll collection at the entry point to J&K at Lakhanpur “to ensure corruption-free working so that no vehicles remain stranded there.” He also announced increase in toll tax by five paisa per kg.
The VAT exemption on paddy, rice, wheat, pulses, atta, maida, suji and besan would continue up to March 2016. The budget also exempted toll on export of fresh vegetables. Baby diapers, adult diapers and female sanitary napkins were also exempted from VAT.
