Contingency fund used for state events

Mumbai: The price of wooing the vote-bank seems to have cost the state pretty gravely. The Jal Poojan and Bhumi Poojan ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial at the Arabian Sea by the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and subsequent events have cost Rs 8 crore rupees to the exchequer of Maharashtra.

Interestingly, the BJP-led state government paid this amount from a ‘contingency fund’ citing it of ‘urgent nature.’ This information was revealed after the state government proposed supplementary demands in the assembly on Monday.

On December 24 last year, Mr Modi was in Mumbai for laying the foundation stone of various projects including Shivaji memorial, Mumbai metro line 3, Shivadi Nhava-Sheva project, and new railway projects under MUTP etc. The amount for the projects has been paid by the state already and to tally the state finance book, the government has put it under supplementary demands. The state government on Monday presented supplementary demands of around Rs 11,104 crore for the current fiscal on the first day of the budget session of the state legislature. This comes three months after the finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented supplementary demands worth Rs 9,046 cr.