J&K saw nearly 15% economic growth and record tourist visits last year: LG Sinha
Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said that Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an economic growth of 14.64% during the last year.
Addressing a press conference on Budget 2023-24 in Jammu, Sinha said that along with economic growth, tax revenues had shown a growth of 31% during the last financial year.
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Praising the improvement in law and order, Sinha said that this year highest number of 1.88 crore tourists visited J&K.
“Jammu and Kashmir 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,” he said.
“Under “My Youth My Pride, Har Din Khel Har Ek Kay Liye Khel” nearly 50 lakh youth have participated in different sports activities this year.”
“Under Digital J&K initiative, 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 Public Service Guarantee Act in J&K.”
He said J&K is the first among States/Union Territories to have District Good Governance Index for assessing the public service delivery at district level.
“Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme, Aspirational Block Development Programme and Aspirational Town Development Programme are the three new initiatives being implemented in J&K,” he added.
Sinha said that highest ever investment of Rs 1547.87 crore was received during the last 10 months of this year. “500 start ups have come up during last 3 years,” he added.
He said unemployment rate has been marginally reduced in the UT. “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 target is to cover 2, 37,000 by end of current year. Next year around 3 lakh will be covered under all the self-employment schemes,” he said.
Giving details about developmental works, he said that in 2018-19, 9228 works have been completed; in 2019-20, 12637 works have been completed, in 2020-21, 21943 have been completed, in 2021-22, 50627 works have been 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 that road construction nearly doubled to 3200 kilometres against 1500-1600 Km in 2018.
