Maharashtra Deputy Chief MinisterAjit Pawar on Friday rejected opposition's allegation of a 'regional imbalance' in the state budget presented by him.Replying to the debate on the budget in the Assembly, he said the government has made provisions forall regions."We reject the criticism that the budget is biased and does injustice to Marathwada, Vidarbha, North Maharashtra and Konkan. We don't commit such a sin," Pawar said."The budget has funds not just for all regions of the state but also earmarked Rs 10 crore for Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka," he said.Cotton being the main crop ofVidarbha and Marathwada, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government has given a Rs 1,100 crore guaranteefor cotton procurement and Rs 2,800 crore have been deposited in farmers' accounts, Pawar said."The government wants to assure cotton growers that it is firmly with them," he added.For Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddi corridor, the government has provided equity of Rs 8,500 crore, the finance minister noted.New medical colleges will be set up at Amravati and Nandurbar and airport development work at Akola and Amravati is also being taken up, he said."Agriculture colleges are also being set up in Vidarbha and North Maharashtra," Pawar mentioned, assuring that there will be no shortage of funds for any part of the state.The government's loan waiver scheme benefited maximum number of farmers from Marathwada, Vidarbha and North Maharashtra, and as many as17.80 lakhfarmersgot Rs 11,340 crore intheir bank accountsin 15 days, Pawar claimed.The government has made a provision of Rs 22,000 crore to cover farmers whose loans exceed Rs 2 lakh and those who paytheirdues regularly, Pawar said.Giving region-wise figures, Pawar said 3,23,632 farmers in Vidarbha gotRs 2,575 crore,3,08,700 farmers in North Maharashtra gotRs 2,375 crore, 6 lakh farmers in Marathawada got Rs 6,000 crore while in western Maharashtra, 3.43 lakh farmers got Rs 2,400 crore."How can then you say the budget encourages regional imbalance?" Pawar, who hails from western Maharashtra's Pune district, asked.As to Konkan, Pawar saidfunds have been provided forstrengthening infrastructure and developing tourism hubs in the region."Why are you angry about land allocation for tourism centre at Worli? Isn't Worli in Mumbai? What about the land worth crores of rupees in BKC area (of Mumbai) that you wanted to give for Bullet train project?" he asked BJP MLAs.He also announced thatlegislators will get loans upto Rs 30 lakh to purchase vehicles, and for five years the government will pay the interest on these loans.He accused the BJP of providing meager funds to several districts when it was in power, and said the present government has done the allocation as per area, population and human development index of each district.
