Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray slams Centre on Budget, says Maharashtra, Mumbai ‘neglected’

Maharashtra, which is currently under a non-BJP regime, was not allocated any big-ticket project in the infrastructure or social sectors in the Union Budget, apart from funds for the ongoing Mumbai-Delhi Expressway and Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train projects.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday criticised the Centre for presenting a Budget that “deviates from ground reality”.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (Sunny Shende / HT Photo)

Maharashtra, which is currently under a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime, was not allocated any big-ticket project in the infrastructure or social sectors in the Union Budget, apart from funds for the ongoing Mumbai-Delhi Expressway and Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train projects.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, as well as ministers from the three ruling parties in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, expressed their disappointment over the Union Budget and slammed the Centre for “neglecting” Maharashtra.

“The Budget deviates from ground reality over the current financial situation in the country. Mumbai and Maharashtra have been the growth engines of the country. But no financial assistance has been offered for the infrastructural development of the state. Apart from the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, and the Mumbai-Delhi Expressway, both of which are old projects, the Centre has not given a penny for the upcoming Metro corridors and railway projects. While allocating funds for the country’s first International Finance Service Centre in Gujarat, the Modi government has neglected Mumbai, the largest contributor to the country’s financial growth,” CM said.

His deputy, Ajit Pawar, too, slammed the Central government and questioned if the proposed gold-silver market in Gujarat’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City) was an attempt to “diminish the importance of Mumbai and Maharashtra”. Pawar also said that the revised estimates projected the devolution of ₹36,220 crore from central taxes to Maharashtra against the estimated ₹44,672 crore in 2019-20 Budget. “This is shocking and unfortunate for Maharashtra,” he said.

State water resources minister Jayant Patil, who had served as Maharashtra’s finance minister previously, said that the state is “not PM Modi’s favourite anymore” and that it has been reflected in the Budget.

The state has planned a network of Metro corridors of more than 200km in major cities such as Mumbai and Pune, as well as several new railway lines. The MVA government had also demanded 10 irrigation projects in Marathwada and Vidarbha under Centrally-funded schemes. However, the Union Budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday saw no mention on the financial assistance to any of these big-ticket projects implemented by the Thackeray-led government. The Centre has also not included any site from Maharashtra in the Iconic Sites scheme, which was announced for the development of archaeological sites in the country. It is also not clear if any city from Maharashtra will find a place among the new five Smart Cities which have been proposed by the Union finance minister in the Budget.

The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had formed the government in the state with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress in November last year, after a face-off between former alliance partner BJP, with whom it had ruled the state for five years.