JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Monday witnessed a disruption after a PDP leader accused the government of pushing the Union Territory into a debt trap by introducing Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme.
PDP legislator Waheed Ur Rehman Para, who was joined by his party colleagues and Independent MLA Sheikh Khurshid, was countered by the National Conference, leading to heated exchange of words between the two sides.
Later talking to reporters outside the house, National Conference’s chief spokesperson and MLA Tanvir Sadiq accused Para of misleading the House and lacking understanding of the programme.
Sadiq also claimed that the PDP leader was carrying a mike and demanded an inquiry into it.
Mubarak Gul, who was holding the chair, made repeated attempts to control the situation and finally adjourning the house half-an-hour before the schedule end of the first sitting.
While the ruckus was going on, BJP members stood up from their seats and staged a walkout, accusing the chair of not allowing the party members time to speak on the budget. Some of their members also tried to enter the well but were pushed back by the marshals.
Targeting the government, PDP MLA Para accused the ruling dispensation of pushing Jammu and Kashmir into a debt trap.
“The chief minister (Omar Abdullah) and NC MLAs are boasting about bringing Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) to the UT. This is not a welfare scheme but a debt trap through which you are mortgaging J&K to industrialists,” Para said while participating in the discussion on the Budget.
“You are taking loans from the market, which amounts to destruction and sets a very dangerous precedent,” he added.
Para said the National Conference had received a huge mandate to protect the interests of Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and to work towards reclaiming the erstwhile state with all its safeguards intact.
“It is unfortunate that instead of honouring that mandate, you are putting the entire J&K on sale today,” he said.
Para urged the CM to rethink the scheme, cautioning that J&K should not be pushed towards a situation similar to that faced by “failed states like Sri Lanka and Pakistan”.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary led the counter attack and rejected the allegations, accusing the opposition leaders of “playing to the gallery” and politicising a financial assistance framework intended for development.
While the chair was trying to pacify the situation and was asking a National Conference member to speak, BJP objected and tried to enter the well, alleging that they were not being given adequate time to speak and later moved out of the house.
As the disorder continued, Gul adjourned the House half-an-hour before the scheduled time till 2.30 pm.
Raising concerns over governance and budgetary performance, the PDP legislator said while people had high expectations from the NC government, Jammu and Kashmir was passing through “the most unprecedented times”.
“There is no doubt that the challenges before the NC government are immense, and it is also true that such challenges have not been faced by any government in the past seven decades,” Para said.
He acknowledged that the present government was operating under serious constraints but said public expectations remained high and could not be ignored.
Referring to last year’s budget of Rs 1.40 lakh crore, he said nearly Rs 40,000 crore was earmarked for revenue expenditure while capital expenditure stood at around Rs 7,600 crore.
“With barely 30 days left for the financial year to end, I want to know whether the government is capable of spending nearly Rs 1 lakh crore within this short period,” Para said.
He claimed that only about 12 per cent of expenditure had been achieved so far and alleged that around 100 projects recorded zero spending, including in critical sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, health and education.
“Allocations are meaningless unless institutional bottlenecks are addressed. The government must explain whether the failure to spend is due to dual power structures or administrative paralysis,” Para said.
Highlighting the social crisis, he said nearly 70 per cent of the population comprised youth, with about 32 per cent reportedly suffering from depression.
He also demanded the refund of approximately Rs 50 crore collected as fees, questioning how families were expected to arrange such amounts as the unemployment rate in J&K is highest in the country.
Flagging substance abuse, he claimed that around 5 lakh people were affected by drug addiction and nearly 4 lakh by alcohol abuse, while alleging that the budget failed to accord priority to the issue.
He also described cancer as a “silent pandemic” claiming thousands of deaths without adequate response and questioning the silence of the government on this issue.
The legislator further raised concerns over the closure of 215 schools linked to banned Jamaat-e-Islami, affecting nearly 50,000 students, and sought a detailed explanation for the decision.
At the end of the days proceedings, NC chief spokesperson said SASCI is a long-term financing mechanism with a repayment period of up to 50 years, aimed at accelerating construction and infrastructure development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rejecting the “debt trap” charge, he argued that if the scheme were detrimental, other states across the country would not have opted for it.
He also took a swipe at the opposition over past budget projections, alleging that figures had earlier been inflated, and said development was now being pursued in a realistic and structured manner.
The NC leader maintained that people of Jammu and Kashmir wanted development across all sectors and asserted that SASCI would help upgrade infrastructure to metropolitan standards.
