KL Report
SRINAGAR
Terming the union budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as state-centric and gender-friendly, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday welcomed the special funding for various initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir. The party, however, demanded funding for the development of the state on the pattern of northeast.
In a joint statement issued here today, PDP MPs Mehbooba Mufti and Tariq Hameed Karra while welcoming the proposal to set up IIT in Jammu demanded that an IIM be established in Kashmir so that the youth in the Valley don’t feel a sense of neglect.
Welcoming the government’s announcement to establish new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in various states, PDP demanded that one such institution should be established in both the regions of the state.
The statement said that hailing the initiatives like dedicated funding for sports and Pashmina development in Jammu and Kashmir and allocation of funds for rehabilitation of migrants, the PDP MPs said that if put together with the annual plan allocation of Rs 7000 crore, J&K will be getting not more than Rs 7800 crore allocation while on the other hand the allocation for North-Eastern states is a whopping Rs 53000 crore. “There is a huge mismatch between funding for J&K and North-Eastern states and the gap needs to be bridged over,” they said and reiterated the party’s demand for having a separate J&K Affairs Ministry in the government of India to lay focused development of the state.
PDP has also demanded due share of funds from around Rs 1000 crore allocation proposed for border area development. “As J&K has a huge population living along the borders, the state should get due share in the border area development fund,” they said.
The PDP MPs said that unfortunately during the past 5 years, Omar Abdullah-led NC-Congress coalition government has never bothered to officially raise critical issues concerning the development of JK with the centre.
