The Shinde-Fadnavis administration anticipates increasing funding for Statutory Development Boards

The Shinde Fadnavis administration's decision to reestablish statutory development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada, and the rest of Maharashtra comes at a time when, despite the fact that the irrigation sector's estimated financial backlog, which was estimated in 1994, has been eliminated, it was anticipated that increased funding for the backlog districts would also eliminate the backlog in physical terms. The physical achievement, however, has not been equivalent due to time and expense overruns.

 

The Shinde Fadnavis administration is anticipated to enhance the funding for these boards with today's cabinet decision. However, the newly formed statutory development boards will need to concentrate on accelerating the process of development in these areas to address the issue of regional imbalance.

 

The government's action is crucial because Governor BS Koshyari claimed in his instructions for the region-wise distribution of expenditures in the Annual Financial Statement of FY 2020–21 that only a small number of sectors, such as Public Health, Energy, and Skill Development still have physical backlogs in these areas.

 

"There shall be no transfer of monies from one region to another region, or from districts with backlogs to districts without backlogs. The Governor had ordered that if re-appropriation of funds was necessary, specific justifications should be recorded. The Governor had ordered that the work on any new irrigation projects shall not begin until the State Government can make adequate additional resources available to complete these new projects within a defined time frame, without affecting the availability of funds for the ongoing works, due to the significant balance costs of ongoing projects as well as the risks of spreading resources thin.

 

"More than 25 years have passed since the current financial backlog was cleared, as estimated by the Indicators and Backlog Committee in 1994. As a result, it is necessary to evaluate the imbalances in regional development that have existed since April 1, 1994, up to the present. According to the most recent data, there is a significant difference between the Regions in the developmental sectors.

 

The Governor has instructed the State Government to form a committee to identify the imbalances in various regions and sectors and strategies to promote balanced regional development in the state in light of these observations. The Governor had emphasised that the committee in question should turn in its findings within a year. According to the governor, although the State Government established a committee for balanced regional development in 2011 with Dr. Vijay Kelkar as its Chairman, not much has been done to implement its recommendations.

 

 

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