Eyeing polls, Shinde govt clears populist proposals worth ₹840 crore in one day

Eknath Shinde rushes to approve ₹840 crore in schemes for publicity ahead of assembly elections, including ₹209 crore for Ladki Bahin and Annapurna schemes

MUMBAI: Eknath Shinde is a man in a hurry these days. With assembly elections approaching, the chief minister wants to clear all proposals for publicity of the populist schemes announced by his government, so that these can be leveraged by his party during the polls.

Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

On Wednesday, he gave the nod to 140 schemes and programmes worth ₹840 crore, including solid waste management projects worth ₹147 crore, which will be implemented in the constituencies of the ruling parties’ MLAs. He also sanctioned ₹209 crore for publicity of the much-touted Ladki Bahin and Annapurna schemes amongst others.

On Wednesday alone, the state government passed 157 government resolutions, rushing through approvals for sewage management projects, four agriculture colleges to educational institutions run by ruling parties’ members, and increased the budget for footbridges in the hilly areas. It also gave its assent to release ₹397 crore for a water supply scheme for drought-prone 40 tehsils and 1245 circles.

As in the case of Ladki Bahin scheme, where direct benefit transfer is to be implemented, the state now plans to credit ₹40,000 in the accounts of 4,102 freedom fighters (most of whom were arrested during the Emergency) as pension for two months - August and September.

“All these are unaided colleges run by institutions under politicians and they charge hefty annual fees from students,” said an agriculture department official.

Shinde government also released a whopping ₹199.81crore for the publicity of Ladki Bahin scheme, ₹4.88 crore for the publicity of Annapurnna scheme, and ₹4.72 crore for the publicity of computerisation of rations cards programme.

“The release of funds through GRs issued on Wednesday are for those areas that are strongholds of the ruling parties. The funding will help these parties to reap electoral benefits. Two months pension for freedom fighters will be deposited just a few days ahead of the elections for increasing approval rate,” said a finance department official.

Under the Lakdi Bahin scheme, on Thursday, over 4.7 million women got ₹3000 credited to their accounts. On Wednesday, 3.3 million beneficiaries got two instalments of ₹1500 in their accounts. Over 13.59 million applicants have been declared eligible for the scheme. Chief minister Eknath Shinde had online interaction with some of the beneficiaries on Thursday.