Mumbai: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls expected to be announced soon, Sudhir Mungantiwar, the finance minister of Maharashtra, presented a Rs 99,000 crore interim budget, prioritising the agriculture, irrigation and transport sectors. He announced some populist decisions to woo farmers and women, like the loan waiver scheme, proposed free medical treatment under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojna, which will benefit more than 83 lakh families, and financial corporations dedicated to Marathas, Vimukta Jati and nomadic tribes and Other Backward Classes.
Mungantiwar, who believes 9 is his lucky number, presented the interim budget in the state assembly on February 27, while Deepak Kesarkar, minister of state for finance, tabled it in the council. As the LS polls are approaching, the finance minister tabled a vote on account in both Houses to ensure the state could obtain the vote of the legislature for a sum that would be sufficient to incur expenditure on various items for part of the year.
The interim budget on Wednesday was presented for the next four months, till June-end. Rs 9,000 crore have been proposed for districts, while Rs 32,358.92 crore have been set aside for expenditures on schemes and projects for the rest of the state. The remaining Rs 66,641.08 crore will be distributed amongst the three development board — Marathwada, Vidarbha and the rest of Maharashtra Development Board, as per the directives of the governor.
According to these directives, Rs 17,975.59 crore has been proposed for Vidarbha, Rs 13,079.45 crore for Marathwada and Rs 35,586.04 crore for the rest of the Maharashtra. “This fund will be utilised according to the governor’s directives and the state has to plan schemes for these regions that will fit in the proposed allocation,” said Mungantiwar.
As the government has focused on the farmers’ issue ahead of polls, Mungantiwar has proposed a Rs 8,733 crore outlay for irrigation projects and special attention will be given to the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. Rs 15,000 crore has been allocated for the Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan. “Since 2014, the JYS has been implemented and we are committed to make more than 22,000 villages drought-free by May 2019,” said Mungantiwar. He added that during the last four years, Rs 4,049 crore had been spent on this scheme.
Focusing on providing water from small and minor irrigation projects to farmers from the state’s own exchequer, the FM proposed an outlay of Rs 5,187 crore for micro-irrigation, wells and farm ponds, along with the Employment Guarantee Scheme. For agriculture pumpsets, Rs 900 crore have been proposed.
Of the total development plan of Rs 99,000 crore, the highest amount — Rs 38,054 crore has been proposed for social and community services, followed by transportation, for which Rs 14,171.05 crore have been proposed — for the modernisation of State Transport bus depots and other services. Following that Rs 9,568.95 crore have been proposed for agriculture and allied services, Rs 9,566.38 crore for irrigation and flood control, Rs 8,219.93 crore for the power sector and Rs 3,679.61 crore for rural development sector.
