NCP’s plum share pie of budgetary pie raises opposition’s hackles

Pawar’s party is opposed to reinstating statutory boards, allegees Sudhir Mungantiwar

@vivekbhavsar

Mumbai: A fresh spike of Covid-19 cases across Maharashtra has cast a shadow on the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature, which is scheduled to commence from March 1 and end on March 8 with the presentation of the annual State budget.

Compounding problems for the ruling MVA government, senior BJP leader and former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has raised objections on presenting the budget on grounds that the statutory development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada and those for the rest of Maharashtra are not in existence. He blamed the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for wanting to devote the plum share of the budget towards the Western Maharashtra region – the bastion of the NCP.

In the tri-party Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) government, the most powerful portfolios including Finance, Water Resources Department, Social Justice, Housing, Public Health, Rural Development and Food and civil supply rest with Sharad Pawar’s party.

These vital departments directly influence the electorate and then it is the NCP which stands to reap rich political dividends if developmental schemes from these departments are well implemented.

In the last winter session held in Mumbai, supplementary demands approved by both the House were Rs 21,992.51 crores. of which NCP’s share was the highest – amounting to Rs 9365.68 crore.

In contrast, the Congress received Rs 6360.32 crore whereas the Shiv Sena, which has the Chief Ministership, received a paltry Rs 1954.07 crore.

According to Sudhir Mungantiwar, the NCP has always tried to ‘grab’ funds from other departments to fulfil the demands of the portfolios held by their ministers.

“Not a single minister dares to oppose Dada (Ajit Pawar) if he asks any minister to transfer funds from his department to the department that Pawar wants them to be transferred,” claimed Mungantiwar.

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He further observed that until the statutory boards were to be restored, then the Marathwada and the Vidarbha regions would not see justice in terms of equitable fund allocation from the budget. He demanded that Thackeray government should not present the budget until and unless the boards were restored.

Cabinet has the power to distribute funds

Refuting allegations and claims by the BJP leader, senior leader Ratnakar Mahajan said that the state cabinet has the power to allocate funds from the budget to Vidarbha, Marathwada and the Rest of the Maharashtra region. Mahajan is the former Executive Chairman of the Maharashtra State Planning Board.

Mahajan said: “It is true that the MVA government has not yet restored three statutory boards. But this doesn’t mean that the Thackeray government is against restoring boards. Even in their absence, the state can allocate funds to this region.”

Mahajan said that the BJP has no authority to speak on this issue. “The erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis led government had not appointed any political leader as Chairperson of any statutory board,” he said.

He recalled that during his tenure at the State planning Commission, a team was sent by the then Union Planning Commission to assess whether statutory boards indeed facilitated development or whether they helped in reducing the backlog of the region. “On the base of study and site visits, the committee had recommended extending the tenure of the board after five years of completion,” said Mahajan.

What is the procedure?

Vidarbha, Marathwada and the Rest of the Maharashtra Statutory Development boards have a term of five years. The Union government has the right to grant an extension to the board provided the state recommends the same to the Centre. In the present case, the Thackeray government has not yet submitted its recommendation to the Centre.

Gujarat bypassed constitutional provision

Before the bifurcation of combined Maharashtra into Maharashtra and Gujarat as separate two states, there was a pact signed during two meetings held at Akola and Nagpur that Statutory Development boards will be constituted for Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra and Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat. To implement this decision, an amendment in article 371 (2) in the Indian Constitution was passed and subsection (B) was added in article 371 (2) in the year 1959. Maharashtra followed the amendment and formed the boards in 1984, whereas Gujarat had bypassed it.

Congress passes resolution

In a parliamentary board meeting of Congress held on Tuesday, Ashok Chavan, Public Works Department minister proposed a resolution that Vidarbha, Marathwada and the rest of Maharashtra must be allocated funds through statutory boards according to the formula. The resolution was passed unanimously.