Budget all-inclusive, growth good considering previous years' figures: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said the state budget presented by him for 202324 was allinclusive with provisions for the welfare of farmers women as well as infrastructure developmentThe states economic growth rate of 68 percent this fiscal was good in light of the previous twothree years said Fadnavis who holds the finance portfolio while replying to the debate on budget in the Legislative AssemblyIn 202021 it growth rate was negative 72 percent in 202122 it was 91 percent and 68 percent in 202223 he saidThe fiscal deficit was within limit Fadnavis addedHe will table an actiontakenreport on the budget in 2024 before presenting the next budget he saidHe highlighted the Namo Shetkari Sanman scheme introduced by the budget under which farmers will get Rs 6000 in addition to the Rs 6000 given by the central governmentWhen farmers lose their crop to unseasonal rains and hailstorm Rs 12000 will come in handy for resowing Fadnavis said adding that at least a start has been made regarding giving aid to farmersHe also spoke about schemes such as incentives on the birth of a girl child and increase in the health insurance cover under the Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya scheme from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 5 lakhThe previous Maha Viksas Aghadi MVA government of the Shiv Sena Nationalist Congress Party and Congress did not fulfil any of the assurances in its common minimum program Fadnavis claimedIt was the present government which fulfilled the promise made by the MVA to start Rupee 1 clinics and give incentives to farmers who regularly repay crop loans he saidConstruction of the memorial of Dr B R Ambedkar in Mumbai will be completed by 2025 while adequate funds have been provided for the memorial of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray he notedEven though the Shiv Sena was the largest group in the MVA the departments controlled by its ministers got only 15 percent of the budget allocations Fadnavis claimedOn the other hand in the present government the departments controlled by the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have got 34 percent allocations he saidAlso Read Funds going to MLAs of Maha CMs camp leaving legislators of ally BJP unhappyReferring to the ongoing agitation of government employees seeking restoration of the Old Pension Scheme OPS Fadnavis said the old scheme was scrapped on October 31 2005 when late Vilasrao Deshmukh of Congress was the chief minister and Jayant Patil present state NCP chief was the finance ministerGovernment employees should get adequate pension benefits and a committee of three retired senior officials Subodh Kumar Sudhir Shrivastava and K P Bakshi has been formed to study the issue he saidThe opposition should urge the striking employees to withdraw the strike Fadnavis saidDuring the present governments tenure a coach factory came up in Latur where the coaches of Vande Bharat trains are being manufactured he pointed outThe state has requested the Union government to include Marathwada water grid in the Jal Jeevan mission he said adding that had the MVA government sent this proposal the funds would have been released by nowThe budget is a controlaltshift budget and not a copypasteedit one as alleged by the opposition he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever