Jammu, Feb 06: People’s Conference (PC) chief Sajad Lone on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, labelling it a “bureaucratic document” devoid of political vision and tailored only to “please the central government.”
Speaking to Kashmir Convener outside the Legislative Assembly, the MLA from Handwara dismissed the financial plan as a mechanical exercise. “There is no political input in this. The only political input is that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led National Conference is thanking the central government again and again. They are trying to make them happy,” he said.
He asserted that the budget offered not a single new thing for the Union Territory. “There is nothing. It’s a repetition of central schemes,” Lone claimed.
He cited the marginal increase in the total budget outlay as evidence of its inadequacy. “It was ₹1,12,000 crore last year. Now it’s ₹1,13,000 crore. That’s less than the inflation rate. So, there is nothing,” he said, arguing that the rise fails to keep pace with rising prices and represents a cut in real terms.
Lone expressed particular scepticism towards the government’s promises on employment, a key issue in the region. Employing a pointed metaphor, he said, “They say, ‘throw it in the long grass.’ On employment generation, nothing will happen. I can’t see it.”
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