Shinde announces welfare schemes to mark Bal Thackeray’s birth centenary

The announcements come at a time when Maharashtra’s fiscal landscape is under significant pressure as it balances high-cost welfare initiatives against a record-high debt projection of ₹9.32 lakh crore for the 2025-26 financial year

Mumbai: Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde on Friday announced a slew of welfare programmes to mark the birth centenary of party founder Balasaheb Thackeray on January 23, even as the Maharashtra government continues to grapple with strained finances amid rising welfare commitments.

Mumbai, India – 23 Jan 2026: DCM Eknath Shinde pay tribute to Late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's memorial on 100th Birth Anniversary, in the presence of party leaders and supporters, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, Jan 23, 2026. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena faction that split from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in June 2022 and later formed the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), garlanded Thackeray’s statue in Colaba and addressed a press conference at Balasaheb Bhavan near Mantralaya. Recalling his political journey from a shakha pramukh (branch head) to chief minister, Shinde reiterated his claim of leading the “real Shiv Sena”.

Addressing the media, Shinde announced the launch of Aarogya Aplya Daari (Health at Your Doorstep), to be implemented by urban local bodies on the lines of the state government’s Shaasan Aplya Daari (Government at Your Doorstep) initiative. The programme will focus on early detection of juvenile diabetes and cervical and breast cancer among women through large-scale drives.

He also said the zero-prescription treatment scheme at civic hospitals in Mumbai would be strengthened with additional funds to ensure advanced treatment for the poor. During his tenure as chief minister from 2022 to 2024, Shinde had launched the Balasaheb Thackeray Aapla Dawakhana scheme, which provided low-cost medicines to residents of slum areas.

Shinde also announced that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will conserve the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Facilities such as RO drinking water and cleanliness drives will be introduced at the forts, he said, adding that NGOs involved in cleaning activities would be paid an honorarium of ₹1 lakh each.

Under the proposed Nagari Lok Kalyan Abhiyan (City People Welfare Drive), Shinde said that 394 municipal councils will receive ₹1 crore each, while 29 municipal corporations will get ₹3 crore each. Schools will be upgraded under the scheme, and competitions related to governance, drawing, cartoons and elocution will be held, he added. “Balasaheb loved education and health, and we have done something to upgrade both,” he said.

The deputy CM further announced a ₹100-crore fund to strengthen women’s self-help groups, to be spent by the urban development department headed by him, and another ₹100 crore allocation for the Marathi language department. As part of the centenary celebrations, 10,000 women will be trained in martial arts by retired army personnel, he said.

Shinde also said that the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will organise concessional tours to religious destinations, for which budgetary provisions have been made. The MSRTC comes under the transport ministry headed by Shiv Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik.

Shinde claimed that the Shiv Sena was now the second-largest party in Maharashtra after the BJP, following the recently concluded local body elections. He also said that two of Balasaheb Thackeray’s long-cherished goals—the abrogation of Article 370 and the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya—were fulfilled under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After garlanding Thackeray’s statue in Colaba, Shinde later visited his memorial at Shivaji Park.

The deputy CM’s announcements on Friday come at a time when Maharashtra’s fiscal landscape is under significant pressure as it balances high-cost welfare initiatives against a record-high debt projection of ₹9.32 lakh crore for the 2025-26 financial year. Despite these strains, the state government has maintained that its fiscal deficit, targeted at 2.8% of GSDP, remains within statutory limits while it pursues aggressive investment targets to stimulate future economic growth.