Economy needling Govt, says Munde

Making an oblique reference to the series of agitation of various sections of government employees in the State for implementation of the fifth pay commission, Munde hinted that it may not be possible for the government to devote adequate funds for developmental works in the current situation.

“The implementation of fifth pay commission has already caused the State dearly and with agitations by several sections of employees still on the development work in the State could be affected,"he remarked.

He said the administrative expenditure of the State which stood at 35 per cent of the State’s exchequer in 1975 had escalated to 66 per cent at present.

The pay commission has put tremendous burden on State establishment and its implementation in total would further hike it upto 90 per cent. Hence, the State will be only performing the work of paying salaries to its employees and the development will take a back seat, he lamented. If that was to be done, the taxes will have to be hiked which is also not acceptable to the public, he added.

Responding to the ayurveda teachers demands, Munde said steps will be taken to implement the Supreme Court decision regarding pension and gratuity to ayurveda teachers.

Earlier, Munde inaugurated the National Integrated Medical Association auditorium at the college. Dr. P H Kulkarni, president of Rashtriya Shikshan Mandal and Dr Suhas Parchure, secretary of the mandal also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier, the ambitious project initiated by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) of setting up air art gallery consisting of 11 oil paintings by Prataprao Mulik depicting the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Lal Mahal here was inauguratedy Munde.