Jammu, Feb 7 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting with stakeholders from industry, tourism, and education sectors on Friday to ensure their concerns shape the upcoming budget and policies of the Union territory.

This was the chief minister's third pre-budget consultation in as many days. He held extensive pre-budget meetings, both online and offline, with MLAs from various districts on Wednesday and Thursday.

The chief minister emphasised these consultations aim to ensure that the proposals of people's representatives are considered and the budget reflects their needs and aspirations.

"I held pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders from industry, tourism, and education, ensuring their concerns shape our budget and policies," Abdullah wrote on X.

He further mentioned that discussions focused on boosting Jammu as a religious and pilgrimage tourism hub, improving trade policies, fostering industrial growth, and enhancing sports infrastructure.

As part of these efforts, he previously held a series of consultative meetings with the District Development Council chairpersons and MLAs from Baramulla, Udhampur, Kulgam, Ramban, Anantnag, Kathua, Samba and Budgam. PTI AB NSD NSD

Pre-budget consultations ensure stakeholder inputs shape budget and policy priorities across key economic and social sectors. Pre-budget consultations were convened as a structured engagement mechanism to integrate stakeholder and elected representative proposals into budgetary and policy formulation. The consultations, conducted online and offline across multiple constituencies, focused on sectoral priorities including religious and pilgrimage tourism promotion, trade facilitation, industrial development, sports infrastructure, and education, with the explicit aim of translating articulated needs into budget proposals and policy measures.