Mubashir Alam Wani
Srinagar, Dec 14 : Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is likely to participate in a pre-budget meeting to be chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajasthan on December 20.
Sources told news agency that Omar, who is also minister-incharge, Finance Department, will participate in a meeting called by the Union Finance Ministry to hold consultations with states and Union Territories regarding the 2025-26 Union Budget.
The meeting is scheduled to be held at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on December 20 at 04: 00 PM.
The Union budget assumes significance for J&K as it has significant dependence on resources of the Union Government.
In the Union budget for 2024-25, the Centre allocated Rs 42,277.74 crore to Jammu and Kashmir with a hike of 1.2 per cent from the Rs 41,751.44 crore given in the last fiscal.
In addition to the total budget of Rs 42,277.74 crore, the Centre also allocated Rs 9,789.42 crore to the J&K Police.
It is worthwhile to mention that Omar Abdullah during his meeting with the Union Finance Minister had last month sought additional central assistance of Rs 6000 crore to bridge the resource gap for financial year 2024-25.
“He also informed the Finance Minister about the difficult fiscal situation being faced by Jammu & Kashmir and requested the Ministry to provide additional Central assistance of Rs 6,000 crore to bridge the resource gap for FY 2024-25,” an official spokesman of J&K government said after the meeting.
He had also requested the Finance Minister to consider Jammu & Kashmir for funding through the “Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment” scheme under which a 50-year interest-free loan would be provided to states for capital expenditure.
