Mumbai: In a bid to provide relief to farmers, the state government has stressed on the agricultural sector in its budget. However, the budgetary allocation for agriculture and allied activities in the current financial year is lower than that in the previous two years.
According to the budgetary allocation, the government has earmarked Rs 16,179.25 crores for agriculture and allied activities, while a provision of Rs 2,277.30 crores has been made for irrigation and flood control. In FY 2017-18, Rs 26,129.61 crores had been provided for agriculture and allied activities while a provision of Rs 2,159.28 crores had been made for irrigation and flood control. Budget estimate for FY 2018-19 for irrigation and flood control is Rs 2,006.63 crores while revised budget for the same is Rs 1879.76 crores.
When asked about actual investment in the agricultural sector in the current budget, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the government had earmarked more funds than 2014’s agricultural budget allocation.
Farmer leader and Swabhimani Paksha chief Raju Shetti said that the budget was very disappointing for farmers, especially when agricultural growth was minus 8 per cent and at the same time, the state was facing severe drought. The government was more interested in the bullet train and Mumbai-Nagpur expressway than in farmers and agriculture. He also said that the schemes announced in the budget looked like poll promises as they were not going to be implemented in the next three months.
The state had come up with the scheme Baliraja Jal Sanjivani Yojana in suicide- and drought- prone areas. The scheme covered a total of 91 projects which included 83 minor irrigation projects, 3 major and medium projects in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.
