Budget Session commences in J

Jammu, Jan 8 (UNI) The Budget Session of the Jammu and Kashmir assembely for the current fiscal commenced today with Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha's formal address to a joint gathering of legislators, highlighting various development and peace initiatives taken by the state coalition government.

Gen Sinha, accompanied by Legislative Council Chairman Abdul Rashid Dar and Lower House Speaker Tara Chand on the dias, appreciated the measures taken by the coalition government during the past four years.

''We expect the coming year to be a year of consolidation,'' he said.

Ending his hour-long speech, the Governor said: ''Democracy is a battle of ideas and I hope it would be fought in the most dignified manner, where the ultimate winner will be the people of the state.'' Earlier, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad personally interacted with the members of both the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Assembly and Council.

UNI