MUMBAI, DEC 10: The financial condition of the State today took a turn for the worse with the DF Government reducing the Plan outlay of the State by Rs 1,000 crore. This has been done ostensibly to contain the growing resource crisis.A senior official said a cut of 15 per cent was being imposed on the budgetary outlay with immediate effect, which he said, had been necessitated by unexpected increase in expenditure, poor recovery of revenue and inability to mobilise resources.While externally-aided schemes and projects financed by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and programmes under the schemes for removal of regional imbalance will not be affected, major developmental projects would be adversely affected by the decision, the official added.Prima facie, it appears that irrigation, rural, public health, public health, medical education, social welfare, water conservation, housing, water supply and sanitation and textile departments will have to bear the brunt, since they will have to abandon major projects atleast for the current financial year.When Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last approached the Planning Commission with a Plan size of Rs 12,300 crore, he was specifically told to reduce it by atleast Rs 1,000 crore. Accordingly, the Plan size was reduced by Rs 1,000 crore, and now, since a cut of 15 per cent has been imposed, the Plan size would be reduced by a further Rs 1,000 crore.The Deshmukh Government has been in the red right since October 1999. Then his Government had presented a white paper on the State's economy and subsequently, presented a budget with a deficit of Rs 750 crore and now, Finance Minister Jayant Patil has stated that the deficit will touch an all-time high of Rs 3,900 crore at the end of the financial year.``We had to bear an additional burder of Rs 2,000 crore owing to recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. Simultaneously, the Finance Commission reduced our share by Rs 650 crore. In addition, we waived arrears of Rs 1,000 crore from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Rs 800 crore from the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC),'' the official said.To buttress his fact, the official further said the government had done its best to improve the financial situation. First, it imposed a cut of five per cent on the non-Planned expenditure, then a complete ban on recruitment, restrictions on expenditure incurred by Cabinet members and banned transfer of employees. ``We took decisions, but did not implement them in letter and spirit. As a result, we could not get concrete results,'' the official pointed out.Even on the recovery front as well as resource mobilisation, there was lack of political will to meet the targets. ``We ordered recovery on a war footing, but due to largescale political interference, our performance was dismal,'' the official said, adding, more than a dozen proposals on resource mobilisation were submitted to the government, but no decision was taken.By and large, top bureaucrats feel the Democratic Front Government will never be able to come out of the financial crisis owing to lack of political will. ``Since Vilasrao Deshmukh has to depend on nine political parties for the survival of his government, he does not want to take any unpleasant decisions. Under such circumstances, he will never be able to mobilise resources,'' an official of the finance department said.
