Waiver, GST dent government finance

Mumbai: Under pressure to give farm loan waiver and compensation to local bodies for implementing Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Maharashtra government presented the highest supplementary demands of Rs 33,000 crore on the first day of the state legislature. Out of the Rs 33,000 crore, Rs 19,577 crore is meant for the farm loan waiver and Rs 7356 crore has been made for the GST compensation.

The loan waiver named as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana is of Rs 34,000 crore. In the supplementary demands, Rs 19,577 crore have been given for the scheme. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the Assembly that the provision for the loan waiver has been made through supplementary demands. “We are ready for discussion on the loan waiver issue as raised by the opposition. But we have made a provision of Rs 19,577 crore in the supplementary demands for the waiver,” Mr Fadnavis said.

“It has also been decided to make provision to cover the expenditure for assistance to municipal corporations in order to overcome financial losses due to implementation of Goods and Services Act 2017. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other municipal corporations in the state suffered losses due to the abolition of LBT, octroi and other taxes. In order to compensate the financial losses due to the abolition of taxes, for the period July 2017 to March 2018, it is necessary to make provision of Rs 7,356 crore in the current financial year,” the demands said.

Just three months ago, while presenting budget, the state government had presented supplementary demands of Rs 11,104 crore, and in December 2016, the supplementary demands were of Rs 9,489 crore. The BJP led government’s expenditure is more than the planned budget.

Reacting to the exorbitant supplementary demands, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sunil Tatkare said that it indicated a weak financial position of the state. “Rs 20,000 crore provision for the loan waiver shows that it the real figure and not Rs 34,000 crore. This also highlights that the state’s financial condition is deteriorating,” he said.