Senior leader of National Conference and former finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather has blamed the PDP-BJP government for the state’s…
Abdul Rahim.
Senior leader of National Conference and former finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather has blamed the PDP-BJP government for the state’s worsening economic condition over the last three years.
Addressing a rally in Srinagar on Saturday, Rather said the state’s economy is continuously witnessing a sharp decline ever since this government took over. Local industry has nosedived to a record low, trade is being mismanaged while agriculture has bore the brunt of this chaos.
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“J&K is on a clampdown when it comes to financial matters. The assertion of having revenue luxury by the government has proven to be misleading and fictitious. Most serious is the fact that government finances are indicative of a crumbled economy especially with respect to deferring of liabilities. Inevitable to disturb the budgetary allocation of next year, the liabilities have accumulated to such an extent that there is a certainty of their flow to the next fiscal year,” said Rather.
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Questioning the Mehbooba Mufti government over the implementation of 7th Pay commission, which is bound to happen by April 2018, senior NC leader said, “This government finds itself tied down. There is an absolute breach of commitments and an upright refusal towards the payment of arrears. The state legislature and the people were made to believe that an amount of 95,000 crore would be available to the government for expenditure during 2018-2019. If it was so, why is the government short of funds in the first month of the financial year? The government needs to work harder on its fiscal arithmetic”.
Comparing the decisions taken in the previous NC-led government, Rather said, “We introduced a pay hike of 50% with an additional Rs 4200 crore as arrears while implementing the 6th pay commission recommendations without any aggravations or stresses. However, the current administration has increased the pay hike to a mere 16% with a denial to disburse arrears”.
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