Maha govt's Rs 35,788.40 crore supplementary demands; Rs 1,400 crore for Ladki Bahin Yojana

The Maharashtra government, on Monday, presented supplementary demands worth Rs 35,788.40 crore in the state legislature. These demands, which were presented for the first time after the Mahayuti government was formed following the recently held Assembly election, will finance the ongoing schemes of the state government, including Ladki Bahin Yojana and also the state government share in the Central government-funded schemes.

The supplementary demands were tabled by the Shiv Sena Minister Uday Samant in the Assembly.

Of the Rs 35,788.40 crore, as high as Rs 7,490.24 crore have been earmarked for the public work department, Rs 4,112.79 crore for industry, energy, labour and mining department, Rs 3,717.29 crore towards interest-free loans for 50 years to the state government for capital expenditure, Rs 3,050 crore for free electricity to consumers under the Mukhyamantri Baliraja scheme and Rs 2,774.43 crore for urban development department.

Further, the government has earmarked Rs 2,600.31 crore for the OBC department, Rs 2,165.47 crore for the water resources department, which is engaged in the completion of long pending irrigation projects, Rs 2,155.40 crore for the women and child development department.

The government has earmarked Rs 1,400 crore, especially for the Ladki Bahin Yojana. Nearly 2.34 crore women beneficiaries have already been provided Rs 7,500 (Rs 1,500 per month) for July to November. The Mahayuti has promised to increase the monthly aid to Rs 2,100 and it is expected that the money earmarked through supplementary demands will be used for depositing the December aid to women beneficiaries. The Women and Child Development Department is the nodal department for the implementation of the Ladki Bahin Yojana.

The government has also earmarked Rs 2,147.41 crore for agriculture and animal husbandry. The Mahayuti has promised a loan waiver to farmers and the government is expected to soon come out with a detailed policy in this regard.

Further, Rs 2,049.69 crore has been earmarked for medical education, Rs 2,007.69 crore for rural development, Rs 1,908.01 crore for various irrigation development corporations towards share capital, Rs 1,830.76 crore for tribal development, Rs 1,377.55 crore for cooperation, marketing and textile department and Rs 1,500 crore for public work department as the government component towards the loan received from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of roads and bridges.

The government has made an allocation of Rs 1,250 crore for Modi Awas Gharkul Yojana, Rs 1,204.58 crore for providing margin money to the eligible cooperative sugar factories, Rs 1,170 crore towards state government component for getting loan from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of medical colleges in the state, Rs 1,000 crore for providing incentives to small, medium and big industries and Rs 758.96 crore towards milk subsidy scheme.

It must be mentioned here that the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on July 9 in the state Assembly presented the supplementary demands worth Rs 94,889.06 crore. This was necessitated to finance a slew of freebies and sops announced by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the budget 2024-25 with an eye on the state Assembly election. Pawar presented the budget of Rs 6,12,293 crore on June 28 in the state Assembly with a revenue deficit of Rs 20,051 crore and a fiscal deficit of Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

Even though the supplementary demands were to the tune of Rs 94,889.06 crore, the direct financial burden on the state government was estimated at Rs 88,770.64 crore.