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Now its Maharashtra FM Mungantiwar's turn to deliver on acche din

Now that finance minister Arun Jaitley has brought out a union budget that has mostly met the expectations of the public, it is now the turn of his counterpart in the state to bring out a people-pleaser this month, and it is no cakewalk for Sudhir Mungantiwar.

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Sudhir Mungantiwar
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Now that finance minister Arun Jaitley has brought out a union budget that has mostly met the expectations of the public, it is now the turn of his counterpart in the state to bring out a people-pleaser this month, and it is no cakewalk for Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Maharashtra, once regarded among the best administered states in the country, is now buried under a Rs3,00,477 crore debt burden. And pays around Rs23,805 crore in interest annually, or Rs65 crore daily.

Speaking to dna's Dhaval Kulkarni, Mungantiwar, in a first, has invited suggestions from economists, industry bodies, officials and the common man to hike revenues and tackle debt. He said the budget focus would be on infrastructure, agriculture, industry and job creation in the budget.

He also pointed at a sea change from established policies, saying the state will shift its focus from merely allocating money for projects to ensuring that the project is realised, thereby ensuring that benefits of state spending trickle down to the masses.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Q: How will your budget be different?

A: The budget will be different in the sense that its main focus will be on agriculture, job creation, infrastructure and women empowerment. The finance minister is not presenting the budget; this is being done by the common people whose suggestions were sought. We have a debt burden, but will proceed with self-confidence. Many suggestions have been made for increasing revenue. According to me, the real machinery for revenue collection will be the people. There will be no tax evasion if people check that taxes have been charged while insisting on bill receipts.

Q: How will the budget boost manufacturing?

A: For boosting any sector like industry and agriculture, infrastructure is necessary. If we have a tourism centre but approach roads are bad, what is the use? If there are no infrastructure facilities for agriculture and (good roads for) the market, then they will get less prices. Income will not rise unless there is an increase in infrastructure and capital investment. Hence, we will focus on basic infrastructure and also on rural and village roads.
I recently visited Madhya Pradesh. They have worked hard and utilized central funds well. The situation is similar in Andhra Pradesh. They have digitized forest records, education-related schemes, and irrigation.

Q: What is the revival plan for agriculture? There is a long-pending demand to wipe off all agriculture loans.

A: Food processing units will help value addition. We will try to take farmers towards mechanised farming to boost productivity. Though the conditions are not conducive to a complete loan waiver, the government will stand by the farmers.

Q: The traders are demanding that the local body tax (LBT) be scrapped.

A: The LBT will be scrapped. The BJP has given its word. There are no printing mistakes in our vision document and manifesto (said in reference to Congress).

Q: You had ordered a review of government schemes.

A: I ordered a review of all the 1,256 government schemes (to assess their utility). There are multiple departments that have schemes relating to the same issue. They may have to be unified at some places, some must be brought under one umbrella, those which are outdated must see their structure being changed or even scrapped. The outlay for some schemes must be increased. Now, we do not want expenditure-based schemes, but output-based ones.

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