Maharashtra Winter Session: State govt tables demands for funds worth Rs 55,520 crore

Actual impact of these supplementary demands on the state treasury would be Rs 48,384.66 crore, finance department says

The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Thursday tabled supplementary demands worth Rs 55,520.77 crore in the state Assembly on Day 1 of the winter session of the legislature here. The supplementary demands, which are additional funds sought by the government over the budgetary allocation, were tabled in the House by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar.

Of the total, supplementary demands worth Rs 19,244.34 crore were described as mandatory expenditure, while demands worth Rs 32,792.81 crore are required for various ongoing programmes and schemes of the state government, a note issued by the finance department said. Besides that, supplementary demands worth Rs 3,483.62 crore are towards the state’s contribution to the ongoing schemes of the Union government, it said. “There are several ongoing schemes which require a portion of financial expenditure from the state’s coffers,” a finance department official said. The actual impact of these supplementary demands on the state treasury would be Rs 48,384.66 crore, the note said.  

Disqualification petitions 

Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday said that he would need to put in extra hours to conduct hearings on disqualification petitions while ensuring smooth functioning of the House. The winter session of the state legislature will continue till December 20. Speaking to reporters here, Narwekar said, “I need to ensure the smooth functioning of the Legislative Assembly as well as complete the disqualification hearings pending before me. It looks like I will be working from 9 am to 10 pm in this period to give justice to both responsibilities.”

Shinde with Fadnavis and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar. Pic/PTI

Narwekar is hearing cross-petitions filed by the rival Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs following a split in the party last year. Narwekar said he would hear the petitions on Thursday for two and a half hours at the Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur. The speaker said it would be a challenging task for him to pay attention to both hearings as well as smooth functioning of the House.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) is seeking the disqualification of Shinde-led 40 rebel MLAs who revolted against Thackeray, which not only led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June 2022, but also caused a split in the 57-year-old party.  The Shinde camp has alleged that the documents based on which the Thackeray-led group has been seeking disqualification of their rival MLAs are “fake”. The Supreme Court has asked the speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions by December 31.

‘Action will be taken if Marathi films are denied theatres’

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday stated in the Legislative Council that legal action will be taken if theatres in the state refused to screen Marathi films. The BJP’s Pravin Darekar raised the issue, stating that Marathi actor Prasad Khandekar’s newly released film ‘Ekda Yeun Tar Bagha’ was not getting cinema halls. Fadnavis said if a Marathi film was not getting theatres for screening in Maharashtra, legal action would be taken wherever necessary. Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve raised the issue of shade-nets used by farmers. These nets often get damaged due to the strong winds, but farmers do not get insurance compensation for such damage, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said. Fadnavis said that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had already given directions to formulate a scheme to deal with the issue. Subsequently, the Council was adjourned after passing condolence motions.

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