Nagpur: Maharashtra government on Wednesday presented another set of supplementary demands worth Rs.11445 crore on the first day of the monsoon session of the state legislature here in Nagpur. In the current fiscal alone, Maharashtra government has raised supplementary demands worth Rs.15316 crore including the additional grants of Rs.3871 crore presented in the budget session in February-March this year.
The supplementary demands, which will come up for discussion next week, were tabled by Minister of State for Finance Deepak Kesarkar on the first day of the monsoon session of the state legislature. The government made a provision of Rs 15 crore for implementing the pension scheme for journalists, called Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar Sanman Yojana.
The provision has been made under the grants-in-aid (non-salary) to the Director of Publicity. The government also allocated Rs 250 crore to National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) as the state’s share to the special purpose vehicle of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. The other significant demands include Rs 5 crore for the development and re-carpeting of airstrips of Karad and Chandrapur airports.
The supplementary budget was presented in the Assembly by Sudhir Mungantiwar while Maharashtra’s minister of state for finance Deepak Kesarkar, who presented it in the legislative council.
The break-up of the latest supplementary demands include: a repayment of Rs.1520 crore for the loans it had raised to purchase tur daal (pigeon pea) from the farmers. An additional grant of Rs.2515 crore was being raised for rural development programmes. The supplementary demands also include Rs.850 crore for the metro projects, Rs.300 crore for the Bharat Net programme, and Rs.250 crore as seed capital for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
The total supplementary demands raised so far by this government, nearly Rs.52000 crore was a direct burden on the state budget. The biggest chunk of this component of the supplementary demands is the farm loan waiver for which the state had provided Rs.35000 crore. Of this, Rs.26000 crore has already been released and we expect an additional allocation of Rs.9000 crore for the remaining beneficiaries. But we have raised Rs.35000 crore and there isn’t any cause for worry on that front.
The second largest component of the supplementary demands raised so far has been the expense on account of the implementation of the recommendations of the 7th pay commission for the state government employees. The overall burden of the 7th pay commission was around Rs.23000 crore per annum and the supplementary demands raised so far had provided for Rs.10000 crore. The Maharashtra government has agreed in principle to revise the wages of state employees as per the 7th pay panel recommendations.
It has been decided to provide additional funds of Rs 159.63 crore for the purchase of two helicopters for the air travel of very very important persons (VVIPs). As the provision made in the current financial year for the installation of CCTV surveillance system in the state is found to be insufficient, it has been decided to make an additional provision of Rs 35 crore for CCTV projects in Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad and other cities, it said.
