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Abrogation of Article 370 brought transparent, democratic govt: Nirmala
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman dwelt at length about the fiscal health of J&K post-abrogation of Article 370; says money from each loan defaulter, irrespective of how powerful they were, will be recovered and restored to the respective banks
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that abrogation of Article 370 brought a transparent and democratic government in J&K.
She also said that money from each loan defaulter, irrespective of how powerful they were, will be recovered and restored to the respective banks.
Addressing mediapersons here, the finance minister dwelt at length about the fiscal health of J&K post-abrogation of Article 370. “In the last two years, the work that has happened here is absolutely stunning,” she said. “We are accountable for every rupee, which is deployed on the ground. This kind of approach to governance is absolutely unheard of in J&K and for that I would honestly thank abrogation of Article 370,” she said, adding, “It cannot be a few families’ oligopoly. Money of the people should go to the people and it should be a transparent process and that’s what has been achieved in J&K.”
She denied any adverse impact on the economy of the region after abrogation of Article 370. “On the contrary, there is a fervour to complete all pending projects,” she said while citing PM’s development package. It may be stated here that the UT has been eyeing ₹35,000 crore investment by the end of this year out of which ₹14,000 crore has already been invested.
Responding to another query on loan defaulters, she said all such cases were being pursued in right earnest to get the banks their money back.
“We will not let go any defaulter, particularly those who have fled the country, and we will get their assets back through courts to give them to the banks,” she said.
When asked what the government was doing to tide over spiraling unemployment rate which has gone over 22% in J&K, she referred to PM’s development package.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and said, “We are trying to ascertain the reasons, but in recent times, 8,000 to 9,000 recruitments were made and total 20,000 people will be recruited.”
“There are self-employment schemes like Mission Youth and many others where the youth are being trained, mentored and financed. I am not contradicting the CMIE figures, but I think that there might have been some flaw in sharing data with them. Things will improve in the next one to two months. We are working on many schemes,” he added.
New schemes for women entrepreneurs, tourism industry
Sitharaman also handed over sanction letters for ₹306 crore to 145 beneficiaries of various credit-linked central schemes. She also announced new schemes and initiatives for J&K, including Tejasvini & Hausala schemes of J&K Bank, Shikhar & Shikara schemes of Punjab National Bank. Tejasvini scheme focuses on providing financial assistance of ₹5 lakh to women between 18 and 35 years for starting their business. Shikhar scheme focuses on meeting credit requirements up to ₹2 crore for hotel and tourism industry. Under Shikara scheme, credit up to ₹15 lakh for purchase/repair of shikaras is provided in the Valley.
Sitharaman also laid foundation stone for Rural Self-employment Training Institutes (RSETI) building at Shopian and Baramula and inaugurated J&K Bank branches in Salal, Bagga and Budhan in Reasi district.
