MUMBAI, March 30: Leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legisalative Council Chhagan Bhujbal, on Monday, squarely blamed the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance for growing corruption and taking the state to brink of bankruptcy.Bhujbal, while initiating a debate on the budget proposals tabled by the finance minister Mahadev Shivankar on March 23, assailed the state government's "pro-rich" and "anti-poor" policies reflected in the budget. He claimed that the debts raised by the state government doubled from Rs 13,280 crore to Rs 27,435 crore (a hike of Rs 13,455 crore). Similarly, the interest burden has been hiked from Rs 1,850 crore to Rs 3,337 crore in the same period.
He said that the state government's claim on budget deficit of Rs 846.29 crore as shown in the budget was grossly incorrect as the actual deficit would be as high as Rs 3,181 crore.
Bhujbal, in his hard hitting speech, said that the government failed to make a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,275 crore to the Maharashtra Krishna ValleyDevelopment Corporation which has been set up with a special objective of harnessing Krishna water allotted to the state as per the tribunal. The MKVDC, which has raised Rs 952 crore through the placement of public and private issues, has incurred a loss of Rs 124.30 crore in the first year, 1997-98. The government has also failed to take care of necessary allocation for the repayment to be made by MKVDC over the years.
Bhujbal pooh-poohed the state government's much debated policies for financial discipline and simplification of taxes and added that its move to use capital account surplus to overcome revenue deficit was just an example of bad economics.
He said that there was a reduction of Rs 408 crore in the sales tax collection while the state excise had dipped by Rs 92 crore. He claimed that the government had reduced the budgetary allocation for tribal welfare to a mere 4.8 per cent in 1998-99 while it was 6.48 per cent in 1996-97 and 6.60 per cent in 1997-98.
In the Maharashtra legislativeassembly, Dilip Valse-Patil (Congress) flayed the state government's vindictive policies towards the cooperative sector with an investment of Rs 35,000 crore over the years. He strongly demanded that the government waive the supervision and audit fees charged on the cooperative societies in the state.
Valse-Patil criticised the state's decision to increase fuel adjustment charges on electricity and added that it would severely affect. While concessions were offered to the rich and moneyed class, the government has failed to take care of farmers and poor, he said.
Valse-Patil said that the additional revenue generation through rise in professional tax should be fully used for the Employment Guarantee Scheme. He regretted that there was no job creation under the said scheme especially in the drought-affected areas in the state.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
