By IANS,
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir’s annual budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal will be presented to the state assembly March 7 and its focus would be on bridging the gap between supply and demand in the power sector.
The budget, to be presented by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim, will reiterate the government’s concern over the failure in revenue collection in the power sector as power theft remains one of the biggest revenue slippages in the state, sources said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while presiding over a meeting of the power officials here Monday, stated that the energy demand has grown by 78 percent while power generation-supply growth was only 48 percent.
The state imports power from the northern grid and has to pay more than Rs.1,000 crore every year to keep the supply going.
Official calendar of the state legislature for the budget session said that it will commence Feb 28 and conclude April 7, while the period from March 25 to 31 will be a break in the session.