Premium

Maharashtra: On his home turf Pune, Ajit Pawar’s budget strikes discordant notes

The AAP said the budget has promised Rs 15 lakh crore investment and 15 lakh jobs. “But the economic survey report says area of production in the state has reduced" said AAP spokesperson Mukund Kirdat.

Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar. (File Photo)

Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar, who hails from Pune district, has drawn fire from political parties and social activists in the city, describing the budget as one which will make little difference in the life of the city’s residents, especially women who have been promised Rs 2,100 per month under Ladki Bahin Yojana.

“People had high expectations from Ajit Pawar’s budget as it was the first one after the elections. However, there is disappointment in store for citizens as their high hopes have been dashed. The budget has completely ignored the findings of the economic survey report,” said AAP spokesperson Mukund Kirdat.

“The government has promised to provide Rs 2,100 per month to women under Ladki Bahin Yojana. Similarly, it has promised to recruit 25,000 women in the police force. But there is no mention of these two important points in the budget presented by Pawar today,” Kirdat said.

Also Read | Focus on industry, infrastructure and welfare in Maharashtra budget of Rs 7 lakh crore

The AAP said the budget has promised Rs 15 lakh crore investment and 15 lakh jobs. “But the economic survey report says area of production in the state has reduced. In such a scenario, the budget does not throw light on how job creation will take place,” Kirdat said.

Manav Kamble, president, Swarajya Abhiyan, Maharashtra, said, “Ajit Pawar’s budget has nothing new for the citizens. The budget only has announcements regarding big projects. The budget, which shows deficit of Rs one lakh crore, raises questions as to where the government will bring the funds from. The finance minister has not clarified this aspect.”

Kamble added, “The finance minister said there has been 42 per cent increase in development plans for the Scheduled Castes. However, in reality in the last five years, there has been 50 per cent cut in funds for the Scheduled Castes. The finance minister is misleading the people.”

Kamble said the Mahayuti leaders had promised before the election that when they came to power, they will waive loans of farmers. “However, the budget does not mention anything about loan waiver for farmers. Therefore, the farming community is sorely disappointed with Pawar,” he said.

Story continues below this ad

Kamble further said that during the elections, the Mahayuti leaders spoke about giving Rs 2,100 per month to women under Ladki Bahin Yojana. “But the budget makes no mention of it. Ajit Pawar seems to have forgotten the promise,” he said.

He added that specially abled people are also upset with Pawar. “When five per cent funds are supposed to be reserved under Disabled Welfare Funds, only one per cent funds have been provided,” he said.

Kamble said the budget has given a raw deal to farmers, farm labourers, unorganised labourers and workers. “The budget has not even given a thought to their social security,” he said.

Rahul Dumbale, president, Bhima Koregaon Vijaystambh Shauryadin Samanvay Samiti, Pune, said, “The budget has made no provision for ’Vijay Stambh Shaurya Smarak’. The followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar are sorely disappointed with Pawar’s budget. The government had promised that the memorial will be built as early as possible but that intention is not reflected in the budget.”

Story continues below this ad

“We will meet Ajit Pawar on Tuesday in Mumbai and submit a memorandum to him. We will urge him to make adequate provision when the supplementary demands are placed before him,” said Dambale, adding “it was Ajit Pawar who had made the announcement for setting up of the memorial”.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories