Union budget falls short of people's expectations in J-K: Cong

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress unit on Saturday criticized the Union budget for the erstwhile state, saying it fell short of the expectations of the people who suffered immense losses due to the unprecedented "political and security" turmoil. The Centre abrogated Article 370 provisions granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in August last year.

"Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh suffered huge losses on economic front with each sector and every section of the society bearing the brunt due to unprecedented political and security turmoil, but adequate measures have not been kept in the budget to provide some relief to the people," chief spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Ravinder Sharma said. He said the budget also lacks proposals for any major projects to generate jobs for the youth of the Union territories.

"The Union budget falls short of the expectations of the poor and common man and reflects the sorry state of affairs of the economy of our country at the moment, especially the instability in the banking sector," Sharma said. Reacting to the budgetary announcements, the Congress said the poor and the common man is unlikely to get any relief from the unprecedented price hike and ever-rising inflation besides large scale taxation of various forms.

"The privatization moves in the budget like Railways, withdrawal of the government from IDBI and reduction of share in LIC would further aggravate the situation," he said.