Coalition presents Zero Deficit Budget

Srinagar: Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather presented the third budget of the NC-Congress coalition government for the financial year 2010-2011 in the state legislative assembly on Monday.While presenting the zero Deficit Budget, the finance minister said that as the State’s annual plan was yet to be finalized by the Planning Commission of India, the receipt figures have been worked out on a projected State Plan outlay of Rs 6,600 crore. He said the categorization of the receipts is based on the pattern adopted by the Planning Commission of India for the scheme of financing of the current year’s annual plan outlay.Rather said many major initiatives and measures of reforms have been taken-up under the wise and energetic leadership of the coalition government. The results are already there for everybody to see, he added.He said the economic survey report has already been laid on the table. He said at current prices, the preliminary estimates place our GSDP for the current financial year at  Rs 47,709 crore as against the last year’s figure of  Rs 43, 236 crore reflecting a growth rate of 10.35% as against 10.22% growth rate recorded last year.He said the corresponding figures of GSDP at constant prices (2004-05) are Rs 37,887 crore for the current financial year and Rs 35,538 crore for the last financial year indicating a growth rate of 6.61% as against 6.48% growth rate registered last year adding that in either case, the growth rate estimated now is higher than the growth rate of last year. However, it still remains below the All India average growth rate of 8.6% expected during the current financial year and 7.17% recorded last year, he said and added nonetheless it is satisfying that we have continued to move forward despite the prolonged disruption of the economic activities during the last summer.He said the current year’s per capita income has been estimated at ` 32,496 at constant prices (2004-05) in comparison to the last year’s estimates of ` 30,886. This indicates a growth of 5.21%. While at the national level, there are clear signs of recovery of the economy from the effects of global melt down, a lot remains to be done by us at the State level to catch up with the All India growth rate.He said as per the preliminary estimates, the contribution of the Primary Sector to the GSDP in the current financial year is estimated at 21.10%. The contributions of the Secondary and Tertiary Sectors have been estimated at 29.82% and 49.08% respectively, he added.He said the work on the Mughal Road estimated to cost about ` 640 crore is progressing satisfactorily. The total expenditure on this road by the end of March, 2011 is expected at about ` 450 crore, he said and added that Fair-weather connectivity has already been provided between Kashmir Valley and Jammu region through this road. The work of consolidation, metalling and macadamization of the road surface shall be resumed as soon as the weather improves, he said.He said the progress of works on Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund Railway line and four laning-cum-upgradation of the National Highway 1A between Lakhanpur and Srinagar is satisfactory. The Toll Plaza Complex at Lakhanpur estimated to cost 32.20 crore is nearing completion.  He said with the expected agreement of Ministry of Railways, we hope to take possession of 108 kanals of railway land at Lakhanpur for providing additional parking space at the Toll Plaza for the vehicles in transit. Besides, we are also chasing the respective Central government authorities to expedite construction of the import side bridge on river Ravi and Lakhanpur bye-pass on the National Highway, he said.He said Sewa II Hydro Electric Project having an installed capacity of 120 MWs has been commissioned in September, 2010 under the Central sector. Work on the J&K State Power Development Corporation owned 450 MWs Baglihar HEP-II is expected to be completed in three years time. The procedural bottlenecks in implementation of 1200 MWs  Sawalkot HEP are also being attended to so that the construction work on this long pending project begins as early as possible.  He said the government proposes to start work on 93 MWs New Gandarbal and 50 MW Lower Kalnai HEPs through J&K State Power Development Corporation during the next financial year. The State Power Development Department is simultaneously executing several major projects on improvement of transmission and distribution infrastructure.The Finance Minister said this House had voted a budgetary expenditure of Rs 25,984 crore for the current fiscal. The Revised Estimates are now placed at   Rs 28,733 crore indicating an increase of Rs 2,749 crore with similar improvement on the receipt side. These figures include a sum of Rs 2,300 crore on receipt side, comprising Rs 1,000 crore as one time grant in aid from the Centre and `Rs 1,300 crore as additional open market borrowing outside the FRBM arrangement. This amount of Rs 2,300 crore is proposed to be utilized to reduce the accumulated over draft of the government with the J&K Bank. The total capital expenditure is now estimated at Rs 8,059 crore on both plan and non plan side. The revenue expenditure is estimated to increase to 18,374 crore as per RE of the current fiscal from the BE figure of ` 17,698 crore, indicating a net increase of ` 676 crore.He said the main reason for the increase of Rs 676 crore is that the power purchase bill has gone up by Rs 273 crore. Besides this, the government has increased the rate of House Rent Allowance of its employees by 2.5% raising the present rate of 15% to 17.5% from July 1, 2010 involving an expenditure of ` 70 crore in the current financial year. The government has also announced a further increase of HRA by 2.5% with effect from 1st July 2011 taking the HRA rate to 20%. The government has also sanctioned Hardship Allowance to the personnel in the Police Department @ 10% of basic pay. This last measure is estimated to cost ` 60 crore for part of the current financial year.