J&K budget session to begin tomorrow

Srinagar, Jan1 (KMW): The budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature is likely to begin on a stormy note tomorrow with opposition parties planning to protest the recent government order barring its employees from airing political views on social media and take up other issues.
The rival parties are also expected to oppose forcefully the government’s move to allow indirect election of sarpanches by panches instead of a direct election.
The session would begin with Governor NN Vohra s address to a joint sitting of the legislature and end on February 10.
The Budget for the financial year 2018-19 would be presented by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on January 11.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president G A Mir had earlier said the government order to its employees not to use social media for airing political views would be the biggest issue during the session.
“The order shows how scared the government is. It is a totally undemocratic decision and if not withdrawn, it will be the biggest issue during the budget session,” Mir had said.
In December last year, the government barred its employees from using social media for any political activity by amending the conduct rules governing them.
BJP state president Sat Sharma, however, said the opposition parties were bereft of issues as the state government had done well to mitigate the problems of the people and had taken the state to new heights of development.
“The way development is going on in the state over the past three years, the opposition is left with no issues. It is merely a statement that we will corner the ruling party to raise public issues. They have no issues to rake up,” he said.