Higher supplementary demands to provide relief to farmers: Kesarkar

Staff Reporter
Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Finance and Planning, strongly defended the supplementary demands of Rs 16,094 crore tabled before State Legislature. He said that the demands, which will be passed after discussion in next two days, were higher as the BJP-Shiv Sena Government was committed to providing relief to farmers affected by drought.
When it was pointed out that the supplementary demands presented on Tuesday were a record for winter session, Kesarkar said, “The previous Congress-NCP Government had presented the highest supplementary demands of Rs 20,000 crore during monsoon session of 2014. However, they did it keeping an eye on ensuing Legislative Assembly elections. And, we have presented supplementary demands of Rs 16,094 crore to provide relief to farmers. There is a difference.” Talking to reporters at his Ravi Bhavan cottage on Tuesday evening, Kesarkar said that supplementary demands this time included Rs 9,374 crore of non-plan expenditure and Rs 5,913 crore of plan expenditure.
The most important part of supplementary demands proposed is drought relief. A total of Rs 5,505 crore has been made available for this purpose to Revenue Department, and Relief and Rehabilitation Department. This amount includes Rs 4,002.82 crore proposed for drought relief. Other allocations include Rs 944 crore under State Disaster Relief Fund, school fees exemption to students in drought-affected areas, conversion of short-term crop loans into long-term ones, crop insurance etc. Further, Rs 600 crore has been proposed as additional allocation for highly successful ‘Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan’. All these are part of the Government’s effort to provide relief to farmers and people suffering from drought.
Replying to a question, Kesarkar said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and he himself were working on decreasing expenditure. “However, when there is drought or calamities, the Government has to help,” he added. At the same time, he said that the Government was working to increase fruitful expenditure, get more Central funds, and also monitor if the Government assistance was reaching the last of the beneficiaries.
Asked why did not the Government make available details of sector-wise and region-wise allocations to the Legislature, Kesarkar said that those were made available to the Governor. “We have presented supplementary demands only after that,” he added. To another question, he informed the reporters that Kelkar Committee report on balanced regional development was being discussed by various departments and the consultation process might be completed by January. Will the Government table ‘Action Taken Report’ on Kelkar Committee recommendations in budget session of State Legislature? To this, Kesarkar replied that first the Government would have to accept it and then only action could be taken.

‘Devpt Boards to be reconstituted soon’
Replying to a question, Deepak Kesarkar said that development boards of Vidarbha, Marathwada, and Rest of Maharashtra, would be reconstituted soon. “Those may be reconstituted within a month or two,” he said. The development boards are functioning without Chairpersons for a long time now. Against this backdrop, Kesarkar’s statement is significant. On why was additional outlay shown as ‘Nil’ to development boards, he said that the boards were yet to be reconstituted and hence there was no demand received from them. However, an official later told that the development boards had got the outlay from budget provisions and hence there was no need to show additional outlay separately.

Per capita income to be doubled under ‘Chanda to Banda’ scheme
The Minister of State for Finance and Planning told the reporters that the Government was working on ‘Chanda to Banda’ scheme under which it was planning to double per capita income of all districts of Maharashtra.
“Many corporate houses are coming forward to help us in the initiative of increasing investment and employment generation. Already, the plan for Sindhudurg district is ready and that for Chandrapur (Chanda) is expected to be ready soon,” said Deepak Kesarkar. According to him, the BJP-Sena Government was working on exploring the economic strengths of various districts and utilising those to increase per capita income. For instance, he said, there was huge potential for mineral-based industries in Gadchiroli district. In some districts, there was good forest and wildlife cover and some had the strength in manufacturing. “While preparing a plan in this regard, we are also taking care that environment and ecology is maintained,” he added. 

(08-12-15)