Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday presented the interim budget, which is only for four months.
Highlights:
1) Stability to rain fed farming, accelerated development of infrastructure, priority to problems of farmers and youths.
2) Emphasis on Farms Ponds and Irrigation wells to prioritize agriculture and agro- based industries.
3) Vision of Maharashtra without any inequalities through social justice.
4) Maharashtra to be made energy rich state. Plan of Electricity generation and distribution to make Maharashtra self-sufficient in power sector.
5) 13000 km of National Highways have been added during last 4.5 years as compared to last 53 years since creation of the State. Nagpur- Mumbai Samriddhi highway, Shivdi- Nava Sheva port in progress.
6) Committed to improve Mumbai suburban commuting services. Mumbai metro to be expanded up to 276 kms.
7) Funds made available to accelerate Nagpur and Pune metro projects. Ahmadnagar- Beed- Parali, Vardha- Yavatmal- Nanded, Vadsa- Desaiganj, Indore- Manmar railway works in progress. Commitment to develop the State Transport Corporation which serves around 67 lac travelers per day. Approval to an expenditure of Rs. 270 crores for modernization of 96 bus stands. The process of procuring buses has been accelerated.
8) A provision of Rs. 90 crores for ‘Pramod Mahajan Skill Development Programme’ to empower the youth who are the centre point of accelerated development of the State.
9) Aid to be provided to 151 tehsils, 268 revenue circles and 5449 villages in scarcity affected areas.
10) Government to provide 5% of the electricity bills to activate the rural and urban water supply schemes which were not functional due to arrears of the electricity bills in drought affected areas.
11) A provision of Rs. 465 crores for various development schemes of the minorities welfare in the State.
12) A provision of Rs. 2 thousand 892 crores for various schemes for welfare of OBC, VJNT and SBC.
13) A new scheme called Nav Tejaswini scheme for women entrepreneurs in rural areas of Maharashtra.
14) This year, 5 thousand Anganwadi centres to be converted into model Anganwadi centres. A provision of Rs 1 thousand 97 crores for providing nutritional meals to children, pregnant women and lactating mothers under ICDS.
15) A provision of Rs. 6 thousand 895 crores for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna to citizens of 385 cities in the State.
16) A provision of Rs. 60 crores for providing online services of various government departments to citizens.
17) An outlay of Rs. 725 crores proposed for construction of court buildings and judges quarters in the State.A target of construction of 1 lac houses for the Police in the State. Provision of Rs. 375 crores this year.
18) ‘Amnesty scheme’ proposed for compromise of pending and disputed taxes, interests, penalties, late fees etc. Under the provisions of various acts.
19) The debt of the State is estimated to be 14.82% of its GSDP. In last 5 years, the State Government has been successful in bringing down the debt to less than 15%.
20) In this year’s budget, the revenue receipts of Rs. 3 lac 14 thousand 489 crores and revenue expenditures of Rs. 3 lac 34 thousand 273 crores are estimated. As a result, revenue deficit of Rs. 19 thousand 784 crores is expected.The deficit is expected as a result of the stress on the economy of the State after implementation of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Efforts will be made to control the deficit by curbing unnecessary expenditure and making effective recovery of revenue.
