MUMBAI, 21 March 2008 — Parliamentary and state assembly elections may be more than a year away, but the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government in Maharashtra entered into poll mode when Finance Minister Jayant Patil tabled a populist surplus budget in the legislature on Wednesday night. Patil’s budget proposed no major tax increases and focused on social sector, agriculture, irrigation and infrastructure.
The coalition government anticipates a surplus of 460.8 million rupees ($11.5 million). While the Planning Commission sanctioned an annual outlay of 2.5 billion rupees for the state, the state government substantially increased its district plan outlay for 2008-2009. While preparing the budget, the government factored in the impact of a likely pay hike for government employees just before the announcement of parliamentary elections.
Patil created a record of presenting 10 consecutive budgets, surpassing the one set by Sushil Kumar Shinde.
The finance minister came out with innovations such as a proposal to introduce a congestion charge to discourage the use of private cars in Mumbai, where there is sufficient public transport. The government will also abolish octroi in all the 15 “D Class” municipal corporations from 2008-09 and introduce an account-based cess, which has been implemented successfully in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai.
Patil said the 600-billion-rupee debt waiver would benefit millions of debt-ridden farmers, who will hopefully take fresh loans and help the state in achieving an agricultural growth of four percent.
Keeping an eye on Muslim votes, Patil said that in 2004 the government decided to build a Haj house in Nagpur to help pilgrims from Nagpur and adjoining areas assemble before flying to Saudi Arabia. A revised estimate of 90 million rupees has been earmarked in this year’s budget for the construction of the Haj house. The government has already made available a grant-in-aid of 40 million rupees for the construction of the house.
