Maharashtra government presents surplus budget www.newkerala.com March 22, 2005
The Maharashtra government Monday presented a revenue surplus budget for 2005-06 that did not contain any new tax proposals. State Finance Minister Jayant Patil, who presented the budget in the assembly Monday evening, said it was the first time in 10 years that such a budget had been tabled. He assured the legislature that a controversial proposal introduced last year to provide free power to farmers in the state would be reviewed. However, much of the state's debts would be hived to independent trusts formed by the government, Patil said in his budget speech. Such a move would improve credit ratings and help the state borrow more from lending bodies. The trusts to be incorporated shortly would have a corpus of Rs.30 billion and would manage offbudget debts, distressed assets and future guarantees. The budget, the first by the new Democratic Front government, has scaled down its plan from Rs.190 billion in the last fiscal to Rs.110 billion in this fiscal. According to Patil, Maharashtra would introduce fiscal responsibility to prevent the government from spending extravagantly. He said free power for farmers would be reviewed since it cost the government Rs.4 billion a quarter. Reiterating the government's support for the value-added tax regime to be introduced April 1, Patil said the state's stamp duty fee structure would be revamped and revenue collection systems improved to increase revenues. The state government's budget indicated that Mumbai city was very much its priority. Patil promised huge funds to the tune of Rs.15 billion for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar road link project and Rs.19.06 billion for the Bandra-Worli sea link scheme. Further, Gorai beach in north Mumbai, where the Esselworld amusement park is located, would be developed into a special tourist centre. After taking flak for demolishing slums in the city, the state government is making amends by providing Rs.2.6 billion for interest-free housing loans of Rs. 40,000 each to families living below poverty line in Mumbai. However it was not clear how many families would be eligible. The government's focus on the city drew kudos from the trading community. "Our chamber has been championing the cause of Mumbai's development in the past couple of years. Therefore I compliment the finance minister for making substantial provisions for projects aimed at making Mumbai a world-class city," said Nanik Rupani, the president of the Indian Merchants' Chamber.
--Indo-Asian News Service