Srinagar, March 18: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha in her budget speech for J&K that an amount of Rs 12,002.06 crore shall be withdrawn from J&K’s original budget plan for 2020-21.
Explaining the withdrawal, Ms Sitharaman said, “The original grant for the financial year 2020-21 was Rs.1,01,428 crore. During the course of year from 1 April, 2020 to 31″ March, 2021 an amount of Rs.12,002.06 crore shall be withdrawn in excess of grant under the relevant Demands out of the Consolidated Fund of Jammu and Kashmir to defray expenses on services and purposes required during the period.”
“This had been largely necessitated due to expenses on account of clearance of power purchase liability to the extent of Rs.11,025 crore, expenditure related to Panchayats/ULBs/ DDCs/BDCs elections, World Bank aided scheme for procurement of machinery and equipments for health sector, increased allocation under PMGSY, land compensation, additional allocation for drugs and Instruments/Machinery and Equipments necessitated due to Covid-19 pandemic, increased allocation under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), increased allocation under social security schemes and increased allocation under Blue Revolution Scheme of Fisheries Sector”, she said.