Over 200 announcements, Rs 1 lakh crore annual expense: Maharashtra pre-poll spree

The schemes

The Ladki Bahin Yojana was announced in the Budget presented on June 28, with the government promising to deposit Rs 1,500 monthly into the accounts of women between the ages of 21 and 65 and below poverty line in the state. The Mahayuti government claims to have enrolled 2.35 crore women for the scheme so far. The coalition believes it to be its flagship scheme, with all its three partners flagging the same in their campaigns.

In the same Budget, the government announced other schemes aimed at women, including free higher education and three free cylinders for those below poverty line. It also unveiled the Mukhya Mantri Baliraj Vij Yojana, under which it bears the burden of electricity bills of farmers and provides them free electricity for use of agricultural pumps up to 7.5 horse power capacity. Around 44.06 lakh farmers are covered by this scheme.

On September 23, a Cabinet meeting announced a ‘Parshuram Financial Development Corporation’ for underprivileged students from the Brahmin community, with a corpus fund of Rs 50 crore. At the same meeting, the Cabinet announced doubling of the remuneration of sarpanchs and deputy sarpanchs.

On September 30, the government said it was accepting the second and third report of the committee on finalising the protocol for issuing Kunbi-Maratha and Maratha-Kunbi certificates based on historical records. The same day, it also accepted the revised proposal of Rs 12,200 crore for the Thane Ring Metro Project, cleared a proposal to raise Rs 15,000 crore through loans for the Thane-Borivali tunnel route; and approved Rs 1,354 crore as loan without interest for the construction of a tunnel from Orange Gate to Marine Drive in Mumbai.

Besides, the Cabinet meeting that day saw near doubling of the daily allowance to homeguards, who number around 40,000 in the state, from Rs 570 to Rs 1,083 per day. And the creation of 4,860 posts of special education teachers, and regularisation of over 2,900 contractual special educators. Besides, the government said, the desi breed of cows would hence on be considered ‘Rajya Matas’, and there would be allocation of Rs 50 per desi cow per day to gaushalas.

On October 10, the Mahayuti government recommended raising the annual income limit to qualify as a ‘non-creamy layer’ from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, and increasing the monthly salary of madrasa teachers.

On October 11, the Cabinet approved Rs 20,375.21 crore for the construction of the Pune ring road, as well as approved a Rs 1,781.06 crore proposal to build sports complexes.

Finally, on October 14, a day ahead of the announcement of the poll dates, the government said toll tax for entry into Mumbai was being waived. The measure, appealing to middle-class voters from Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, may impact around 60 seats in Mumbai and adjoining districts.

The expenditure

The estimated cost of the schemes announced in the run-up to the polls is around Rs 1 lakh crore annually. Nearly half of the expenditure on the new schemes, or around Rs 46,000 crore, involves the Ladki Bahin Yojana.

As per the Budget estimates for 2024-25, the total debt stock of the state is Rs 7,82,991 crore, or 18.35% of the GSDP, continuing a rising trend in the last two years. In 2023-24, the total debt stock as percentage of the GSDP was 17.59%, and in 2022-23, it was 17.26%.

A senior Finance Department official said that as per the Maharashtra Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act, 2005, fiscal deficit should ideally not exceed 3% of the GSDP. In a Cabinet note last month, the Finance Department expressed concern that, at Rs 1,99,125 crore in 2024-25, this had gone over the mark, “due to additional budget and supplementary demands”. The note added that “the government is facing a lot of financial pressure… In such a situation, the state government cannot accept additional responsibility”.

The government, Opposition

Maharashtra Finance Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar maintains that the expenditure on welfare schemes will not weaken the state treasury. “Maharashtra’s financial situation is robust. We receive the highest GST revenue from the Centre. I have presented the tenth budget of the state, and there is no reason to worry,” he stated in Pune a week before the announcement of elections.

However, his own Finance Department had around the same time raised objections to an increase in allocation for building sports complexes in the state, citing “financial pressure” on the state, including due to the announcement of new schemes. The Cabinet note mentioned above reflected the Finance Department’s concerns in this regard.

Speaking at an event in Nagpur in the days leading up to the poll announcement, senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari had raised the financial burden on the Maharashtra government, specifically on account of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, saying: “There is absolutely no certainty whether investors will receive their subsidy payment on time. As it is, the government has to provide huge funds for the Ladki Bahin Yojana.”

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said the Mahayuti government’s spree of promises would not fool the people, as they realised that these decisions were poll-driven. “Every government tries to come up with schemes and benefits for voters ahead of elections. The only reason that the Ladki Bahin scheme was announced after the Lok Sabha poll results was that the government was afraid of people’s anger and knew that they were going to lose the Assembly polls,” he said.