Mumbai: Big dent in BJP’s fiscal discipline promise

The government also appears to have factored in elections coming up in various municipalities.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s promise of shoring up fiscal credibility in Maharashtra was dented on Monday with the state government raising supplementary grants totalling

Rs 13,032 crore within the first quarter of 2016-17. The government presented the demand to the state legislature on the first day of the monsoon session.

Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had earlier said that fiscal discipline was key to his 2016-17 budget. The statement of supplementary expenditure, laid before the legislative houses, reveals that the state’s contribution to various flagship schemes announced by the Centre make up for a major chunk of additional demands raised.

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The government has provided an additional Rs 862 crore for the state’s share for implementation of provisions under Right to Education. Similarly, a supplementary provision of Rs 800 crore has been made for the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s pet Housing for All initiative has bagged Rs 700 crore, and an additional Rs 504 crore have been provided towards state’s contribution for the Nagar-Parli-Beed railway line project. For the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, the state had set aside Rs 445 crore.

The government also appears to have factored in elections coming up in various municipalities. It has set aside an additional Rs 255 crore for improvement of basic amenities and infrastructure in civic bodies. It has also set aside another Rs 410 crore for repairs and modernisation of state highways and district roads. With cyber crimes on the rise, the government has allocated Rs 262 crore for the Cyber Security Project.

It has also allocated an additional Rs 4.32 crore for the new cell set up under the special inspector general of police (Cyber and Prevention of Atrocities) Brijesh Singh for co-ordinating with various cyber laboratories. There is also a plan to set up a media monitoring centre in the Mantralaya for “monitoring and storing transmitted data from 20 channels” besides a new photo studio.

On the department level, the Housing department has raised additional demands totalling Rs 1,750 crore. The Public Health department has sought an additional 1466 crore. The Agriculture and Animal Husbandry department has raised 1194 crore, followed by Home, totalling Rs 998 crore.

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