Srinagar, Aug 22: Jammu and Kashmir government's coordination committee today asked the Centre to reserve five per cent of the budget allocation of all Union ministries for development of the state along the lines of North Eastern states. "Jammu and Kashmir has suffered a lot in developmental terms during the past 13 years of turmoil. The coordination committee has felt the need that Centre should reserve five per cent of budget allocation of all Union ministries for development of the state," committee chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here at the end of a two-day meeting. The Centre had instructed all the ministries to spend 10 per cent of their budget allocations for development of northeastern states in view of the lack of development in the region, he said.
Azad said it was the only way to fill the developmental void created in the state during the one and a half decades of militancy in the state. Stating that the state government has been urged to take up the issue with the Centre, Azad said the committee also recommended the coalition government to persuade the Centre to lift the freeze on recruitment in the state.
The issue of unemployed educated youth in the state figured prominently in the discussions. Many youth are turning overage due to the freeze. The committee asked the state government to get the MoU cancelled so that it can relieve the youth from their frustration, he added.
Azad said the state government was asked to take up with the Centre the promise of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that one lakh jobs would be created within two years. Bureau Report