My govt will restore accountability in money matters: Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Source: PTI)

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated that the state budget will focus on bringing greater accountability on spending and investment of public money.

Talking to The Indian Express, Fadnavis said, “The focus of my government would be on exercising greater caution on how and where we invest the funds raised through public resources and loans.”

Fadnavis said, “The massive debt of Rs 3.5 lakh crore, which we have inherited from the Congress-NCP cannot be wished away. And frankly, that’s not the concern as we will have to find a way to tackle the situation. But what we are planning meticulously is to focus on raising more funds through multiple sources. There is also greater stress on building private and public partnership in all critical sectors.”

“Unlike in the past where funds were often wasted, we have adopted an integrated approach to make better use of the funds available,” said Fadnavis, attacking the previous government led by the Congress-NCP alliance.

“Now, take a classic case of “jalyukt shivar yojna” that has been rolled in 2,800 villages. During the Congress-NCP government, almost 14 schemes to tackle water crisis were announced from different ministries. After taking the charge, I tried to bring all water projects related schemes under one umbrella through one command to ensure its effective execution and also better results. It would also lead to curtailing wasteful expenditure on account of overlapping on funds as well manpower in administration,” he added.

Fadnavis was also grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving more autonomy to state governments. “The policy shift from the UPA is also clearly notable. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has given more autonomy to the state governments. I firmly believe the economic growth of the State was integral to the overall growth of country,” said Fadnavis.

The Chief Minister also said that a good budget is not about just enhancing allocations to every department, but also good planning with stress on higher spending. “In the past, we have seen there was always a fierce competition amongst departments seeking higher allocations. But at the end of the financial year, almost 50 per cent of the funds remained unutilised,” said Fadnavis.

Source:: Indian Express