‘JK to get Rs 70000 Cr package soon’
State govt was pursuing it for last four months: Drabu
Government of India is finalising a major “development package” to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir.Confirming the development, Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu said the state government was working on it for the last four months.
“It is true that Government of India is announcing mega developmental package for Jammu and Kashmir. I cannot tell you the exact amount of the package, but I can say that it will be around Rs 70,000 crore and will be announced within the month of July,” Drabu told a local news agency KNS.
“Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed sought the developmental package for J&K and we are thankful to the union government that they have agreed to this package,” he said, adding that the funds will be spent over the next five years on different projects to be identified by the state government.
Leading English daily, The Hindu, had carried a report about the package stating that it will be far higher than the one announced by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2004 under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Package of Rs. 24,000 crore (revised later to Rs. 36,265 crore) and is expected to be disbursed along the same lines.
The projects will include a medical institute, affiliated to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in Anantnag, an Indian Institute of Technology each in Jammu and in Kashmir, and an Indian Institute of Management in Jammu.
According to The Hindu, the J&K government had earlier put together several proposals, pitching for projects estimated at Rs 1,00,000 crore.
Meanwhile, sources said the package is likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before Eid-ul-Fitr.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will visit Jammu on July 17 to attend the centenary celebrations of the State leader Girdhari Lal Dogra .We are hopeful that PM will announce the package,” KNS quoted government sources as saying.
