Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will review the subsidies given to select industries in Vidarbha over the last five years. Vidarbha, a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its leadership, receives an annual power subsidy of ₹1,200 crore and another ₹1,000 crore in textile subsidy. All of these will be under “reconsideration”, the Finance Minister told The Hindu .
Mr. Pawar, who has reviewed the State’s finances after assuming charge, said some financial discipline has to be introduced in the spendings, especially the undue subsidy doled out by the previous BJP regime. He said. “The previous government doled out a lot of benefits to industries, especially in Vidarbha. It is our responsibility to check how many industries benefited from these subsidies and how many new industries came up owing to these measures. We will also check if some of these industries actually existed.”
The State currently has a subsidy burden of ₹22,136 crore, which is a big chunk of annual revenue expenditure of ₹2,82,630 crore. The Finance Minister said prudence and discipline is the need of the hour. The State is looking at rationalisation of expenditure, at the same time increasing taxes as a way forward to come out of its debt trap, he said. Maharashtra currently has a debt of ₹4,72,000 crore. “As of now I have not passed any orders, but going by the review of State finances so far, there is no way forward but to cut spend,” he said.
Senior officials said the government is looking at rationalising administrative expenses including salary paid to nearly nine lakh employees and five lakh teachers who are on the State’s payroll. The salary burden on the government is around ₹1,14,249 crore, with pensions accounting for ₹36,368 crore. The interest on borrowings is ballooning at ₹34,207 crore. “The Finance Minister has said we must look at how money on salaries can be saved by streamlining biometric facilities and reducing leakages in various subsidies,” said a senior official of the finance department.
