The Asian Age

FM peppers Budget with Kashmiri poem

Allocates `30,757cr to J&K, Ladakh gets `5,958cr

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT

As questions abound about the prevailing situation in Kashmir, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman quoted a Kashmiri poem to indicate that Kashmir Valley is turning normal after the abrogation of Article 370.

“Humara watan khilte hue Shalimar bagh jaise, humara watan Dal lake mein khilte hue kamal jaisa, nau jawanon ke garam khoon jaisa, mera watan tera watan, humara watan, duniya ka sabse pyara watan,” she said while beginning her Budget speech.

The government has allocated `30,757 crore for Jammu and Kashmir, and `5,958 crore for Ladakh, both of which are new Union Territorie­s (UTs).Following the abrogation

New Delhi: The premier investigat­ion agency, CBI, has been allocated `802.19 crore in the Budget, a marginal increase of `4 crore from last year. The agency has on its hands several extraditio­n cases where legal battles are being fought in courts abroad, corruption cases, banking scams and special crime cases domestical­ly which need large-scale deployment of workforce and resources. It received an increase from `798 crore allocated last year to `802.19 crore in 2020-21.

of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was converted into a Union Territory. Ladakh, whch was part of the state, was formed as a separate Union Territory.

The government has provisione­d `279 crore as the contributi­on to Union Territory Disaster Response Fund while `30,478 has been allocated for meeting its resource gap, the Budget document said.

In Ladakh, the government has allocated `83.38 crore for rural developmen­t, `80.69 crore for public works, `54.07 crore for power, `52 crore for civil aviation and `47.50 crore for tourism sector among others.

The Centre had abrogated special status of Jammu and Kashmir state under Article 370 on August 5 last year and split it into two Union Territorie­s -Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

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