Mumbai, March 6: The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra rolled out its maiden Budget after coming to power in December last year. The fiscal policy, presented by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar, laid down sops for farmers, allocated a significant amount for women security along with a significant allotment for Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray's project to turn Mumbai into a tourism hub. Here are the key highlights of the Maharashtra Budget 2020-21.

While presenting the budget, Pawar stressed the importance of women's safety, and pledged an amount of Rs 2,100 crore for the Women and Child Welfare development department."For us, women's safety is of utmost priority. One all-women's police station will be started in every district," he said. The Minister added that the government will take measures to ensure that sanitary napkins are made available to every girl in every secondary school in the State. Uddhav Thackeray Releases First List of Farm Loan Waiver Beneficiaries Under Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Shetkari Karjamukti Yojana.

A one-time settlement was proposed for the state's farmers, with Pawar announcing that those with farm loans exceeding Rs 2 lakh can settle the same under a lucrative one-time offer. The Budget also proposed an allocation of Rs 22,000 crore for the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule loan waiver scheme in 2020-21 -- under which outstanding farm loans of upto Rs 1 lakh would be waived off.

The "Shiv Bhojan" or the scheme to provide meal at Rs 10 would be expanded in several other districts of Maharashtra, Pawar announced. An allocation of Rs 150 crore was announced by him as part of the Budget 2020-21.

For the health sector, a total allocation of Rs 5,000 crore has been announced, out of which Rs 2,500 crore would be used for developing the existing and setting up new medical educational institutions. The remainder of the amount would be utilised for construction of new hospitals, revamp of existing hospitals, medical colleges, and purchase of ambulances.

For decongesting Pune, the government would complete the 170 km ring road project, Pawar announced. "We will start land acquisition and complete it in four years. Maharashtra will only pay for land acquisition whereas the construction cost will be borne by Centre," the Finance Minister was reported as saying. He has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the same.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2020 01:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).