While addressing a press conference over J&K’s budget allocations and its tabling in Parliament, Sinha said that they have been able to improve the budgetary transparency in the past few years
Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said that the union territory government has repaid the power dues of ₹28,000 crores pending from the past several years.
While addressing a press conference over J&K’s budget allocations and its tabling in Parliament, Sinha said that they have been able to improve the budgetary transparency in the past few years. “For the first time, ₹28,000 crore dues pending for a long time in the power sector have been repaid,” he said.
He said that the UT government’s efforts to undertake power metering and improve billing and collection efficiency have resulted in non-tax revenues increasing from ₹5,148 crore in 2022-23 to ₹6,500 crore in 2023-24, registering growth of 25%. “I want to stress that for the past three years, there has not been a single rupee increase in the power tariffs. And J&K gets cheapest power in the country,” he said.
However, the people have been often challenging such statements of the administration saying there has been a 100 to 300% increase in power bills for the past one year. The power department has been unilaterally increasing the power usage agreements in flat rate areas hence increasing the power bills. Flat rate customers are 68% of the total power consumers in Kashmir.
The LG said that as part of power sector reforms, 5.74 lakh smart metres have been installed by June 2024 resulting in 25% reduction in Transmission & Distribution (T&D) losses and 10% increase in tariff collection per month.
He said that the transmission and distribution capacity of the power sector has increased. “The implementation of ₹5,000 crore projects with the help of central government will lead to radical changes in distribution sector,” he said. “Our power generation capacity has remained around 3500 MW and another four big projects are ongoing which will be completed in 2026-27 will add another 3200 MW of power,” he said.
He said that there are more power purchases and solar power agreements done by PDD which will benefit the UT. “I am not claiming of becoming self-sufficient as our power needs will increase owing to the industry demands. There is not insufficiency of power in the country. We want to make our transmission and distribution network as such that we can provide 24/7 power if people pay. That is why metres are being installed swiftly. I want to point out with respect that gone are the days of getting services without paying…,” he said.
Budget details
The LG said that the size of the J&K Budget 2024-25 was ₹1,18,390 crore which was ₹30,889 crore higher than the expenditure of 2023-24. “Revenue receipt estimates for 2024-25 is ₹98,719 crore and capital receipt estimate is ₹19,671 crore. The revenue expenditure for 2024-25 is pegged at ₹81,486 crore with sector-wise allocations,” he said.
Capital expenditure (i.e developmental expenditure) for 2024-25 is ₹36,904 crore while capital expenditure contribution towards GDP is 14.01%.
“GSDP for the year 2024-25 has been projected at ₹2,63,399 crore which shows a growth of 7.5% over GSDP of 2023-24. The tax/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio for 2024-25 has been projected at 7.92% which is higher than previous year’s 5.68%,” he said.
