On the first day of Maharashtra Assembly’s two-day winter session on Monday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government presented supplementary demands worth ₹21,992.52 crore with a focus on providing relief to farmers in the State.
Allotments such as ₹2,211.77 crore for farms affected by natural calamities and ₹2,850 crore as bonus for paddy growers made this the third consecutive session of the MVA government with supplementary demands of over ₹20,000 crore.
During the budget session in February and the monsoon session in July, demands worth ₹24,723 crore and ₹29,084 crore were presented. Supplementary demands are additional grants sought out of budgetary provisions to meet the government’s expenditure.
The Public Works Department has been allotted ₹3,824.34 crore, the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department ₹3,201.30 crore, the Social Justice Department ₹2,449.16 crore, and the Relief and Rehabilitation Department ₹2,224.34 crore.
In addition, ₹22 crore has been allotted for air conditioning facilities with negative pressure for the storage of COVID-19 vaccine, and ₹1,000 crore to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, which is facing losses amid the pandemic.
The other highlights of the supplementary demands for 2020-21 tabled in the Assembly include ₹3 crore towards payment of fees of the legal team representing the State government in the Maratha quota case in the Supreme Court. A sum of ₹100 crore has been set aside for the construction of the memorial to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at Indu Mills, ₹475 crore has been reserved for the MLA development fund and ₹8 crore for the new MLA hostel under construction in Mumbai.
A sum of ₹80 crore was allotted to the Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research, Training and Human Development Institute as demanded by Maratha organisations, while ₹81 crore was earmarked for MahaJyoti, which is engaged in implementing developmental schemes for OBCs. A total of ₹11 crore was allocated towards scholarships for OBC students, and ₹216 crore for VJNT students.
On Sunday, Oppositionleader Devendra Fadnavis alleged that the State had stopped paying the scholarships of OBC students.