Jammu, 04 January (H.S.): Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has called budget session of the Assembly from February 2 which will begin with his Address to the House at 10 AM. The budget session has been advanced by Omar Abdullah Government in view of holy month of Ramzan which will start around February 20 and is expected to last till March 21 with Eid celebrations. The Government proposes session break during Ramzan.

The Lieutenant Governor will address the MLAs at 10 AM on February 2.

Excelsior had exclusively reported earlier that budget session of the Legislature will start from February 2 and will be held in two parts. The budget will be passed before start of Ramzan i.e. February 20 while rest of the business i.e. the Government bills, private members’ resolutions and private members’ bills will be taken up after Eid which is expected to fall on March 21.

Soon after the Lieutenant Governor summoned the Legislature, Secretary Assembly Manoj Kumar Pandit issued the bulletin calling upon the MLAs to submit not more than 10 starred questions and 10 un-starred questions for the budget session by January 12, two private members’ bills each by January 15 and four Resolutions each by January 17.

Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather will issue calendar mentioning date for presentation of budget and other business of the House in next few days.

This will be Manoj Sinha’s third address to the Legislature, the first being on November 4, 2024 when first brief 5-day session of the Assembly was held in Srinagar, the first after Assembly elections in September-October. He addressed the Assembly second time on March 3, 2025 during first budget session of the Government.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds charge of the Finance Department, will be presenting his second budget during the session. He presented his maiden budget on March 7, 2025 for the financial year of 2025-26. Now, he will present the budget for 2026-27 for which discussions at various levels including the Union Finance Ministry are on. The Finance Department has also taken up budgetary meetings with several departments.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar