SRINAGAR: Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said that there has been a “paradigm shift” in the pace of development in J&K over the last three to four years.
Addressing a press conference on J&K Budget 2023-24, he said the highest ever investment of Rs 1547.87 crore has been received during the last 10 months and that 500 startups have come up during the last 3 years.
He said last year J&K has witnessed economic growth of 14.64% and tax revenue has shown growth of 31%.
“The law and order situation has improved appreciably in J&K and this year highest number of 1.88 crore tourists visited J&K,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir, he said, has been among top performers in the country for implementation of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Amrit Sarovar, SVAMITVA Scheme, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Nasha Mukt Abhiyan and Renewable Energy Development. “Most of the social security schemes have been saturated in J&K.”
Under “My Youth My Pride, Har Din Khel Har Ek Kay Liye Khel”, he said, nearly 50 lakh youth have participated in different sports activities this year.
Under Digital J&K initiative, he said, 445 online services are being provided through
E-UNNAT portal.225 e-services have been integrated with Rapid Assessment System for real time feedback on quality of service delivery. “All the online services have been linked with the Public Service Guarantee Act in J&K.”
J&K is the first among States/Union Territories to have District Good Governance Index for assessing the public service delivery at district level, he said.
“Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme, Aspirational Block Development Programme and Aspirational Town Development Programme are the three new initiatives being implemented in J&K.”
He said highest ever investment of Rs 1547.87 crore received during the last 10 months of this year. “500 start ups have come up during last 3 years.”
Unemployment rate, he said, is marginally reduced. “33426 posts have been referred to recruiting agencies. 25450 selections have been made including 2436 selections of J&K Bank Limited. Around 2, 02,749 youth have been covered under various self-employment schemes and the target is to cover 2, 37,000 by end of current year,” he said, adding, “Next year around 3 lakh will be covered under all the self-employment schemes.”
In 2018-19, he said, 9228 works were completed; 12637 works in 2019-20, 21943 in 2020-21 and in 2021-22, 50627 works were completed and this year “we expect 70,000 works to be completed”.
“This is the paradigm shift in the pace of development in J&K over the last three to four years,” he said, adding, “Road construction nearly doubled to 3200 kilometres against 1500-1600 Km in 2018.”
