Srinagar, Feb 14: Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory’s maiden budget for the year 2025-26 will be presented in the Legislative Assembly on March 7.
The 28-day budget session will begin in Jammu with an address from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on March 3.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget on March 7.
This will be the first budget of the Abdullah-led National Conference government since it assumed power in October last year.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget on March 7.
This will be the first budget of the Abdullah-led National Conference government since it assumed power in October last year.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Friday released the provisional calendar for its second session, scheduled to commence on March 3. The session, spanning both March and April, outlines key legislative activities such as the Lieutenant Governor’s address, budget discussions, and debates on grants.
The session will begin on March 3 with the Lieutenant Governor’s address, followed by a three-day discussion on the Motion of Thanks from March 4–6. This will be followed by the budget presentation on March 7, which will include both the Annual Financial Statement for 2025-26 and the Supplementary Statement of Expenditure for 2024-25. General discussions on the budget will take place from March 8–11, with the government’s reply scheduled for March 11.
The Assembly will then deliberate on the Demands for Grants from March 12–15, resuming after a break for Holi on March 14. Discussions on grants will continue until March 24, after which Appropriation Bills will be introduced on March 25. The session will pause until April 7, when Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions will be taken up, followed by final government business on April 11.
The session will also include six holidays – three for Sundays (March 9, 16, and 23) and three for festivals (Holi on March 14, Navroz on March 21, and Mahavir Jayanti on April 10).
This marks the first budget presentation by the Abdullah-led government, which will be significant as the previous five budgets were presented in Parliament due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. The Governor-led State Administrative Council had passed the budget for 2019-2020 after the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018.
This will also be the second session of the newly-formed Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly following the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories in August 2019.
