Rs. 5,417-crore deficit budget for Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra Government presented its interim budget for the first four months of fiscal 2014-15 recently with a revenue deficit of Rs. 5,417 crore.

No new taxes were levied but subsidy on electricity has been hiked significantly.

Finance Minister Ajit Pawar said in his budget speech that the State government had achieved a small revenue surplus in 2013-14. But it had to incur very heavy expenditures on natural calamity relief, electricity bill subsidy and other expenses. As a result, the revenue surplus has turned into a deficit situation, he said.

Keeping in the mind the forthcoming parliamentary and Assembly elections, Pawar has granted further exemption on value added tax on food grains, pulses, turmeric, tea and other food items. The VAT on these items was to lapse at end of the current fiscal, but now it has been increased to March 31, 2015.

Subsidy on electricity for rural and urban consumers figures prominently in the budget. The State government will provide 20 per cent subsidy on the electricity bills of residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial and powerloom consumers of Mahagenco, which is the largest power utility in the State,

As a result, the tariff of agriculture consumers will be reduced by 48 to 65 paise per unit for metered consumers and Rs. 28 to 60 per hp/month for unmetered consumers. An allocation of Rs. 9,000 crore has been made for it in the budget.

Giving additional stress on airport development in Maharashtra, Pawar said the government is making efforts to create a network of airports in the State to facilitate trade and industry. The work on airports at Karad, Amaravati, Jalgaon, Akola and Solapur are in progress. Work on the Shirdi airport is in the final stages. An outlay of Rs. 165 crore is proposed for the development and maintenance of these airports in the next fiscal.

For the minorities, Pawar has made a provision of Rs. 131 crore, which would be utilised for the modernisation of madarsas, pre-matric scholarships and development of minority concentrated rural areas.

HBL