State govt to spend ₹19,300 crore on welfare schemes and infrastructure

Host of “populist decisions” taken on the eve of elections Troubled by reports of lagging behind in the popularity sweepstakes, the Shinde-Fadnavis government on Wednesday swung into mission mode and gave its nod to over 30 decisions in its cabinet meeting

Host of “populist decisions” taken on the eve of elections

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Troubled by reports of lagging behind in the popularity sweepstakes, the Shinde-Fadnavis government on Wednesday swung into mission mode and gave its nod to over 30 decisions in its cabinet meeting. Besides naming under-construction sea links after former prime minister A B Vajpayee and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, the government announced health cards for 22 million families, mohalla clinics across the state and nine new medical colleges.

Thirty decisions by a government is a rare occurrence, generally seen at the time when general elections are round the corner. On the anvil are a plethora of populist decisions, from a hike in the monthly pension of over 4.1 million destitutes and widows, a provision of ₹210 crore for 700 mohalla clinics and the extension of health insurance to over 120 million citizens

The mohalla clinics, named after the late Bal Thackeray, will provide 30 free pathological tests at 700 places across the state. Currently, there are 155 such clinics in Mumbai. The mediclaim cover given to families under the Mahatma Phule Janarogya Yojana was hitherto restricted to those below the poverty line and had a cover of ₹1.5 lakh. It has now been extended to over 120 million people with a cover of ₹5 lakh. The scale of the population covered has been almost doubled by the decision.

“The cabinet has taken a major decision to extend the Mediclaim schemes to 120 million people of the state. Nobody will now be deprived of medical treatment,” said chief minister Shinde.

The monthly pension to widows and destitutes under two schemes—Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana and Shravan Baal Pension Scheme—has been hiked from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. This will put an additional burden of ₹2,400 crore on the exchequer. Both the schemes together have 4.1 million beneficiaries.

The cabinet also announced the constitution of a corporation for the welfare of crores of unorganised workers from 39 sectors and 340 businesses. The workers will get health insurance, cash benefits, home loans and scholarships for their children among other benefits.

The decision of handing over a land parcel of 3,308 square metres for the Dharavi metro station to MMRDA was also taken in the cabinet. Another decision was the opening of nine new medical colleges at Thane, Palghar and seven other districts in the state with a capacity of over 100 seats each.

The cabinet also announced a livelihood grant of ₹300 a day to the family of the fishermen arrested by Pakistan for violating territorial water restrictions at sea.

“According to separate internal surveys conducted by the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the government was lagging behind in popularity,” said a BJP leader. “That was a worrisome factor for both just before the elections. So after the outreach program Shashan Aplya Daari, to take various state and central government schemes to the doorstep of people, the government has decided to swing into action. The proposals approved by the cabinet will help in creating a perception in favour of the government, as these decisions with their financial implication of thousands of crores will benefit at least half the state’s population.”

CM Shinde, speaking to the media after the cabinet meeting, declared that after lagging behind in foreign direct investment during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government for two years, the state had got the highest FDI investment in Maharashtra,” “We have been getting enormous support from the central government on this front,” he said.