The Maharashtra government, which is struggling to cope up with its shortfall in revenue, on Monday, presented supplementary demands worth Rs 21,076.32 crore on the first day of the budget session. Of Rs 21,076.32 crore, the government has earmarked Rs 16,200 crore to repay the advances taken under the Special Drawing facility, Rs 2,650.61 crore for pension, Rs 2,000 crore for the Mumbai Nagpur expressway equity and Rs 1,149.67 crore for Metro 2A, 2B and 7, of which the actual allocation will be Rs 826 crore. The government has also allocated Rs 268.59 crore to the state Disaster Response Fund.
The supplementary demands were tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the Finance and Planning Departments, in the state legislature. The government has allocated Rs 2,650.60 crore for the Finance Department, Rs 2,052.50 crore for public works and Rs 1,866 crore to MahaVitaran for providing relief to agriculture consumers in the payment of long-pending dues.
Further, the government has earmarked Rs 546.09 crore to public health, Rs 455.18 crore to the National Rural Health Mission, Rs 487.55 crore to water resources and Rs 400 crore to clear bills for irrigation and land acquisition and for the Prime Minister Krishi Sichai Yojana. The government has made an allocation of Rs 289.36 crore to the Revenue and Forest Departments, Rs 280.38 crore for woman and child welfare, Rs 241.71 crore to the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Milk and Fisheries Departments, Rs 102.50 crore to general administration, Rs 200 crore for the Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Scheme and Rs 100 crore for the e-governance project.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government, since it assumed the office in November 2019, has tabled supplementary demands worth Rs 1,12,645.32 crore, comprising Rs 16,120 crore in December 2019, Rs 24,273 crore in February 2020, Rs 29,084 crore in September 2020, Rs 21,992 crore in December 2020 and Rs 21,76.32 crore in March 2021.
Out of the revenue collection target of Rs 3,47,456 crore, the state government has collected only Rs 1,88,542 crore at the end of January 2021. This is 35 per cent less than the budgetary estimate and 21 per cent lower than the collection in the same period in the previous year. The government has raised a record Rs 73,000 crore through borrowings during April-December 2020.
