The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has discontinued the Fadnavis government's flagship Jalyukta Shivar scheme by proposing the Chief Minister Water Conservation Scheme and the Jal Jivan Mission across the state. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has proposed Rs 450 crore for CM Water Conservation Scheme and Rs 1,230 crore for Jal Jivan Mission.
MVA government had repeatedly expressed its reservation over the implementation of Jalyukta Shivar and had not given money since December last year.
Under the CM Water Conservation Scheme, the government proposes to maintain and repair various water conservation works to generate the required water storage.
The government hopes to rejuvenate 8,000 such water conservation schemes to create decentralized water reservoirs, increase groundwater level and create the protected irrigation capacity.
Also, Maharashtra's public debt is expected to surge to a record Rs 5.20 lakh crore in 2020-21 from Rs 4.64 lakh crore in 2019-20. The public debt of Rs 5.20 lakh crore will be 16.15% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP).
The public debt has been steady rising in the state. In 2014-15, it was Rs 2.94 lakh crore (16.54%), Rs 3.24 lakh crore in 2015-16 (16.49%), Rs 3.64 lakh crore in 2016-17 (16.60%), Rs 4.02 lakh crore in 2017-18 (16.89%), Rs 4.07 lakh crore in 2018-19 (16.12%) and Rs 4.64 lakh crore against the estimated Rs 4.71 lakh crore in 2019-20 (16.12%).
As per the 14th Finance Commission, the debt should be within 25% of the state GSDP. In fiscal 2018-19 (actuals), the percentage of debt stock with respect to state GSDP was 15.45%. The government has prepared a policy for maintaining the financial discipline to ensure compliance of this limit in 2020-21.
Further, Ajit Pawar has also proposed the implementation of effective and proactive debt management.
