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Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday presented the interim Budget for the first four months of fiscal 2019-20 with a revenue deficit of ₹19,784 crore.
For fiscal 2019-20, revenue receipts of ₹3,14,489 crore and revenue expenditure of ₹3,34,273 crore have been estimated.
Agri focus
Keeping in mind the forthcoming parliamentary and Assembly elections and the displeasure among the rural population over drought-like conditions, poor monsoon in 2018 and low prices of agriculture produce, Mungantiwar re-focussed the State’s Budget on agriculture. From the contingency fund, ₹2,000 crore has been sanctioned to make provision for farmers.
In the Budget speech, the Minister said the first right over the State exchequer is that of the farmer and the poor. For water distribution, which is key to farming, an outlay of ₹8,733 crore has been proposed for the Water Resources Department and ₹5,187 crore for micro-irrigation, wells and farm ponds.
Mungantiwar pointed out that the State government is implementing schemes for dredging reservoirs and waterways with people’s participation. Under these schemes, 3.23 crore cubic metre silt has been dredged from 5,270 reservoirs. The nutrient-rich soil has been distributed to 31,150 farmers. For 2019-20, an outlay of ₹1,500 crore has been proposed for these schemes.
Farm loan waiver
On farm oan waiver, Mungantiwar said that the government has made the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana applicable in 2018. Under this scheme, ₹24,000 crore has been sanctioned to 51 lakh farmers.
The government is committed to making farmers loan free and will ensure that there will be no shortage of funds till the last eligible farmer becomes loan free, he said.
Mungantiwar said an outlay of ₹3,498 crore has been proposed for the Bhausaheb Fundkar Horticulture Plantation Scheme, grant for Agricultural Instruments under the centrally sponsored Agriculture Mechanized Farming Scheme.
Electrical connections have been provided to approximately 4.4 lakh agricultural pumpsets during the last four years and an expenditure of ₹5,110 crore has been incurred. For 2019-20, an outlay of ₹900 crore is proposed, he said.
He added that the Department of Women and Child Development would implement a new initiative called Nav Tejaswini under which project assistance will be given to women entrepreneurs.
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