DAYA SAGAR
J&K Chief Minister had started pre-budget consultations with his colleagues, the legislators , the senior officers in the administration and key stake holders since 5th Feb in relation to preparations of the UT budget that is to be presented for the year 2025-26. Of course the Chief Minister must also be is very particularly concerned for the issues and priorities which may be very much in hand with him in relation to the promises made by him/ his party in the election manifesto related to the basic day to requirement of the common masses of the UT which the people have been very hopefully waiting for over last three months.
Ofcourse the common man of J&K in the “unorganised civic sector” too is ofcourse key stake holder. The common man of J&K wants Omar Abdullah to take on the promises made by his party / his alliance related to immediate local needs and the delays in any form in executing processes / proposals worth delivering a number commitments made in manifesto cannot be disposed off under the excuse that as Chief Minister of UT he has limited powers/ delegations since it is expected that before contesting elections he was well aware of the fact that he was going to be the legislature of a UT LG too has a direct / even exclusive jurisdiction on some important matters and there should not be any problem for him to initiate notes/ proposals for the consideration of LG. Initiating any new process of examining the implications or appointing committees for the purpose after forming government is surely no any delivery of promises.
The issues that common people accept Omar Abdullah to also particularly address in the Budget 2025-26 could be pinned as (I) To- fill up all vacancies in government departments within180 days (II) Making Job Application free for all the examinations (III) Provide 200 units of electricity free (IV) Provide Rs. 5000 per month to female heads of households to EWS (V) Provide 12 cylinders free of cost per year to EWS (VI) Enhancing the old age and widow pension to 3000 (VII) entitle woman to travel free in all public transport (VIII) Increase FREE rice allocation to 10 kg per person per month (IX) Entitle the general public also to 10 kg rice/Atta per head/month.(X) Free education for all upto University level (XI) regularization of Daily wagers and Contractual Employee (XII) one-time settlement for pending electricity bill arrears in both rural and urban areas (XIII) providing Free, Clean and Safe Drinking Water to All.
Though not part of election manifesto but still people expect Omar Abdullah Sahib to also address the wages / honorarium issues related to the Special police Officer ( SPOs) and Anaganwadi Workers.
No doubt programmes that involve finances would require matching inputs but people expect that any such limitations must have been assessed by the vote seekers before making electoral promises.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the 2024 elections has been the high voter turnout, reflecting the enduring faith of the people in democratic processes and people now look up to the Government with many hopes and expectations
It is not out of place to mention here that Union Finance Minister has in the Union Budget 2025-26 presented on 01-02-2026 has includes a total allocation of around Rs 41,000 crore to Jammu and Kashmir ( almost same like Rs 42,277 crore allocated in the previous fiscal) . For the J&K Police, which is under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry, Rs 9,325.73 crore have been allocated including Rs 8,897.72 cr for revenue expenditure and Rs 428.01 crore for capital expenditure. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha hailed the Budget as a “pragmatic Budget for Viksit Bharat”.
(The writer is a Sr Journalist & a known analyst of J&K affairs)