Non-development expenditure acts spoilsport
62 % allocations for salary, pension, interest and other components
Nasir Azam
Srinagar: The non-development budget continues to overshoot the development expenditure in Jammu & Kashmir, budgetary documents reveal.
According to the documents, a whopping 62 percent funds of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory’s budget for 2020-21 would be utilized for non-development expenditure like salaries, pension, interest payment and other components. The remaining 38 percent funding has been allocated for development / capital expenditure.
Of the 62 per cent revenue expenditure, 30 per cent would be spent for paying salaries, seven per cent each for pension and payment of interest of loans and 18 per cent for other components. In the next fiscal, the revenue receipts of J&K are estimated to be Rs 91100 crore and capital receipts are pegged at Rs 10329 crore, the documents state.
Around 53 % of budget resources would come from entitled central grants, 11 per cent from borrowings, 19 per cent from UT’s share in central taxes, 13 per cent from UT’s own tax revenue and four per cent from UT’s non-tax revenue.
The maiden budget of J&K was presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, as J&K is presently without an Assembly which has powers to approve annual financial statement of the UT.
According to figures, Rs 62264 crore has been allocated for revenue expenditure and Rs 38764 crore for capital expenditure. This is for the first time when the budget figure has crossed Rs one lakh crore for Jammu and Kashmir. There is also provision of 100 per cent UT share for all centrally sponsored schemes in the budget.
In the Union Budget presented on February 01, the Government of India allocated Rs 30478 crore for J&K UT to bridge resource gap. (KNO)
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