Jammu, Jan 11 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Finance MinisterHaseeb A Drabu today rolled out major welfare initiatives inhis 4th Budget in the state assembly and said the reformmeasures adopted by the government have started paying off.
Drbau announced a slew of sops for industrialists,traders, employees, poor, farmers, cooperative banks, ailingunits and Panchyati Raj institutions.
"It will be a potential game-changer budget full ofwelfare initiatives," he told reporters here.
"We were the first state to move from the archaicplan-non-plan expenditure to capital and revenue expenditurewhich was followed by other states. All the systematic changesbeen made so far have started paying off," he said.
A new, robust, sustainable and people-friendly financialarchitecture is taking shape in the state, the minister said.
In a major welfare initiative, the government in itsbudget has decided to do away with toll on vegetables,medicines, sugar, salt, tea, soaps, detergents, sanitaryitems, water coconut, wheat seeds, tree spray oil, newsprintand jaggery.
The government also proposes abolition of basic toll onall non-commercial, private light motor vehicles.
The government has decided to abolish toll on export ofall types of fruits produced within the state, he said.
It has decided to extend relief to the general commutersand transporters and decided to abolish Lower Munda andHeerpur Toll Posts, he said.
The government will consider providing alternateincentive in lieu of CST to industrial units in the state, headded.
The state government shall also provide freight subsidyto the industrial units located in the state and transportingtheir manufactured goods beyond 1,000 km outside J-K, Drabusaid.
The state government shall make available refund of SGST(State Goods and Service Tax) to all industrial units, whichwere hitherto eligible for VAT exemption, he added.
The hotels and resorts will be treated at par with theindustries as far as payment of power tariff is concerned.
From April 1, 2018, hotels and resorts will now have topay the same power tariff as is applicable to industries, heDrabu said.
The finance minister also announced rolling out a "CM'sBusiness Interest Relief Scheme".
For all the RBI-approved restructured accounts, thegovernment will contribute one-third of the total interestpayment of all these borrowers.
He added that the grant one-time waiver of Rs 147.23 lakhon soft loans provided under erstwhile Prime Minister'sPackage in respect of 19 Houseboat owners, who had taken suchloans from banks other than J&K Bank and SBI.
"The government will grant waiver of penalty and intereston arrears of tax in respect of all the dealers registeredunder the provisions of J&K Value Added Tax, 2005 and J&KGeneral Sales Tax Act, 1962," he added.
He said the government will waive off interest andpenalty on all the power arrears owed to the government bythe industrialists and hoteliers and tourist resort owners.
"Under Amnesty Scheme for transport sector, I am waivingoff interest and penalty on past arrears of token andpassenger tax from July 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017," he added.
The government will support the creation of a commonfacility centre for cricket bat industry at Sethar, Anantnagby making an attractive public-private partnership offer.
The minister said that it will facilitate setting up ofwalnut processing units in the private sector through anenabling interest subvention scheme.
The J-K government proposed a small initiative of settingup of a community based marketing network to encourage saffrongrowers to go back to the traditional system of cultivation,for which Drabu earmarked Rs 5 crore, he added.
The government proposes to set up a sum of Rs 25 crore tofinance orchard re-plantation and high density plantationinitiative, he said.
For sick units of the government, it will make aprovision of Rs 5 crore for meeting cost of VRS-GHS in PSUs.
Drabu said that with the complete revamp of the corporategovernance structure of the Power Development Corporation,along with a refurbished balance sheet, a large equity baseand a slew of projects in pipeline.
J-K State Finance Corporation has issued a share buybackoffer and got a good and unexpectedly good response, he said.
The minister said Rs 5 crore each will be infused in theHandicraft Development and Handloom Development Corporationsfor raw material and inventory upgradation.
The government will set up of a J&K Renewal EnergyCorporation which will catalyze the development of renewableenergy resources.
Besides this, he also announced capital infusion of Rs255 crore in Anantnag Central Cooperative Bank, BaramullaCentral Cooperative Bank and Jammu Central Cooperative Bank,he said. PTI ABMKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.