MUMBAI: State govt on Monday tabled supplementary budgetary demands worth Rs 8,609 crore. These are additional expenses for which funds are required by govt beyond the allocation of last year's budget. The interim budget for 2024-25 will be tabled on Tuesday.
The current demands take the cumulative supplementary demands to over Rs 1 lakh crore. This is one-sixth of the total budgetary expenditure estimated in the 2023-24 state budget. In July 2023 assembly session, govt had tabled supplementary demands worth Rs 41,243 crore. In December 2023, it tabled supplementaries worth Rs 55,520 crores.
Officials admit that the supplementary demands are very steep. "By convention, the supplementary demands are within 10% of the budgetary outlay. This is much beyond that," said a senior officer. The cumulative supplementary demands amount to almost 17% of last year's budget.
In a bid to lure farmers and consumers of handlooms and power looms in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, govt has budgeted Rs 2,031 crore towards subsidy for energy supplied to agricultural pumps, handlooms, and power looms consumers served by state-run power distribution company MahaVitaran.
Govt has earmarked financial assistance worth Rs 2,210.3 crore to farmers for crop loss due to unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms. It has allocated Rs 2,019 crore for loans to urban bodies under Urban Infrastructure Development Fund. Around Rs 1,438 crore has been budgeted for payment of arrears of loans to Mumbai Metro phase 3, Nagpur Metro and Pune Metro lines.
Govt has budgeted Rs 1,328 crore for arrears of various allowances provided to judicial officials, Rs 800 crore for providing civic amenities to municipal corporations and councils and nagar panchayats, Rs 485 crore to Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation for employee salaries and Rs 432.85 crore for pension and other retirement benefits of high court judges. Another Rs 251 crore has been allocated as transport cess for MSRTC.
In the supplementary demands, Rs 200 crore has been allocated to Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank in connection with state guarantees given to loans to cooperative sugar factories. Another Rs 384 crore has been allocated to various irrigation development corporations. While Rs 381 crore has been allocated to public health department for construction of urban hospitals, Rs 256 crore has been budgeted towards contribution by Centre and state under National Rural Health Campaign.
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