JK budget session to begin tmrw, likely to be stormy

Srinagar: The budget session of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, starting tomorrow, is expected to be stormy with opposition NC and Congress making it clear they will corner the BJP-PDP government on its move to grant identity cards to the Hindu refugees from West Pakistan settled in the state.

The session will begin with Governor N N Vohra’s address to a joint sitting of the legislature and end on February 4.

Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu will present the budget on January 9. It will be the third budget of this government.

NC, Congress and CPI (M) are set to corner the state government over the months-long unrest in the Valley, the move to give identity cards to the Hindu refugees settled in the state since partition in 1947, shelling on Pakistan border and terror attacks.

The SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act) is also likely to be raised during the month-long session.

State Congress Chief Gulam Ahnmed Mir has accused the PBD-BJP government of being “dysfunctional” and said it would be the main issue discussed by his party during the session.

“There is total failure on part of the government for the past six months,” Mir told reporters here.

“Kashmir is on the boil. More than 100 people died in the unrest (after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani’s death in July),” he said adding that the borders were tense and corruption has increased in the state.

National Conference provincial chief Nagrota Devender Singh Rana said his party will expose the coalition government’s failures.

And CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami demanded probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into civilian deaths in the Valley during the unrest. He has also sought that the central government initiate a process of structured dialogue with “all stakeholders” to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

BJP state president Sat Sharma, however, said that the opposition parties were bereft of issues and were trying to make issues out of nothing.

“Our government has made steady progress. Developmental works are apace. Steps have been initiated to implement the agenda of the alliance. And we are ready to counter any kind of opposition propaganda in the assembly,” Sharma said.