By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government’s interim budget for the current year, presented Tuesday, shows a yawning deficit of over Rs.84.6 billion (Rs.8,462 crore), but no new taxes have been imposed and there has been no cut on developmental expenditure.
State Finance Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, unveiling the interim budget in the legislative assembly, emphasised that the Ashok Chavan-led Democratic Front government has earmarked funds to step up power generation, minimise load shedding, augmenting irrigation facilities and focussing on the social sector.
In the budget estimates, the revenue receipts are estimated at Rs.807.1 billion (Rs.80,710 crore) and the revenue expenditure at Rs.891.7 billion (Rs.89,173 crore), resulting in a revenue of Rs.84.6 billion (Rs.8,462 crore).
The interim budget envisages augmenting the installed capacity in the state power sector by 6,380 MW through ongoing and proposed projects with an interim outlay of Rs.1.6 billion for the current year (2009-2010).
Walse-Patil said though discussions are on with the Planning Commission in respect of the annual plan, the state cabinet has fixed the plan size for the state at Rs.260 billion (Rs.26,000 crore).
While an amount of Rs.10,606 crore has been provided, another outlay of Rs.15,393 crore has been shown as a lumpsum provision under the Planning Department.