What's worse, the Public Works Department under Gadkari's charge has drastically reduced Vidarbha's share in the State budget, Kimmatkar said in a sharp attack on Gadkari and the Sena-BJP government. He reeled out statistics in support of his statement that Vidarbha has suffered more after the alliance government came to power three years ago.

Referring to Gadkari's claims that the the government has made substantial provision to ensure a good road network in Vidarbha region, as a `bluff', he pointed out that Vidarbha's share in the State budget for public works has gone down from 26 per cent to less than 10 per cent.

Vidarbha received Rs 223 crore out of the State PWD's annual budget of Rs 847 crore in 1996-97 (over 26 per cent). Its share hasgone down to Rs 211 crore even when the State PWD's annual budget for the current financial year has jumped to Rs 2,273 crore. It is a sharp fall from 26 to 10 per cent in a couple of years. In the same period, the allocation for western Maharashtra has gone up by Rs 95 crore. In addition, the State Government has provided a substantial amount of Rs 1,516 crore in the current budget for Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation for financing projects in western Maharashtra. Even then, Gadkari continues to claim that the road length in Vidarbha would be on par with that in western Maharashtra in the next two years, Kimmatkar pointed out.

To bring Vidarbha on par with western Maharashtra, the Government would be required to spend the entire State budget on the region alone for next three years, Kimmatkar said.

Known for minutely studying budgetary allocations for various regions and major departments, Kimmatkar was critical of the alliance government's policies. In case of Irrigation development also,the alliance government has cut down the budgetary allocation for Vidarbha region, he charged. The State Government, he pointed out, is committed to provide funds equivalent to 30 per cent of the amount utilised by Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) for completing ten major ongoing projects in Vidarbha. The State Government is also committed to share the burden of paying interest on the amount raised by the VIDC through bonds. But the State's share remained only about 20 per cent, he said. The VIDC spent about Rs 182 crore for ten ongoing projects in 1997-98 and was expecting the State Government to contribute 30 per cent (Rs 52.60 crore). But the government made a meagre budgetary allocation of Rs 37 crore. Stating that it was the lowest in recent years, it amounted to slashing down the budgetary allocation by Rs 90 crore within a year.

The State Government, he alleged, not only slashed the funds for Vidarbha region in the current budget but also chose to ignore the recommendations of abacklog assessment committee of Statutory Development Boards set up by the Governor. The committee, in its report, suggested that the State Government should provide Rs 1,558.45 crore from the annual plan of Rs 11,000 crore for removing Vidarbha's backlog. But the State allocated a paltry sum of Rs 454 crore. It overruled the committee's another suggestion that Vidarbha needs to be given Rs 870 crore in the current year specifically for development of eight out of its nine `most backward' districts. Not a paisa has been provided in the budget under this head, he said.