Maharashtra Budget: World-class aquarium proposed in Mumbai by MVA govt

The annual budget presented by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday proposed creation of a world-class aquarium in Mumbai, which would be a part of an international standard tourism complex. In December last year, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had directed the officials of the Tourism Department to chalk out a plan to build a world-class aquarium in Mumbai.

"An international standard tourism complex would come up on the Worli Dairy land with an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. An international standard aquarium will be built there," Pawar said while presenting his budget in the Legislative Assembly. Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's maiden budget in the Lower House. He announced an outlay of Rs 1,400 crore for the Department of Tourism. Aaditya Thackeray, son of the chief minister, is the state Tourism and Environment Minister.

On Tuesday, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to shelve the plan to build a marine-mammal theme park in the state. This development comes after recent reports suggested that the government was zeroing in on a 5 acres plot in the suburbs of Mumbai to build a “world-class” aquarium. According to the PETA, the Maharashtra government’s project was inspired by the SeaWorld theme park chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida.  

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Key announcements in the budget (2020-2021):

Farm loan waiver:

• Loan waiver of Rs 7000 crore for 2020-21 and one-time settlement scheme for farmers with an outstanding loan of more than Rs 2 lakhs.
• Rs 670 crore for procuring solar pumps for farmers
• Payback scheme of Rs 50,000 to farmers who have paid back loans regularly in part 3 years
• Rs 10,235 crores allocated for groundwater conservation under 'CM water conservation scheme'
• Rs 2043 allocated for tap water installation

Infrastructure & Urban development

• Rs 1000 crores allocated for urban road development 
• Rs 3500 crores allocated for development projects in Konkan region - Ring road project in the area will start in 2020
• Rs 401 crores allocated to State transport to scrap old ST buses and add 1600 new buses
• Rs 1501 crores allocated for 40,000 km in rural road development
• Rs 1657 crores for Metro-rail development.

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Education, youth & employment

• Rs 1300 crores allocated for higher and technical education
• Offering 10 lakh youth internship under the Apprentice Act in private and semi-government offices for which the government will pay 75% of the salary
• Rs 2,525 crore allocated for education and sports activities
• Rs 5 crores allocated for digitisation of texts available with Mumbai Marathi Grantha Sangrahalaya
• 80% of jobs will be allocated to domiciles of the state
• Establishing an Olympic training center in Pune
• Rs 10 crores allocated to Marathi-medium school in Karnataka an separate grant to Marathi dailies

Others

• Rs 5000 crores allocated for First aid services
• To boost 'Shiv Bhojan scheme' upto 1 lakh thaalis, Rs 150 crore has been allocated
• Rs 1630 crores allocated for forest conservation and Rs 230 crores for environmental ministry
• Rs 2100 crores allocated for women safety
• Rs 9668 crores allocated for social justice development
• Rs 5 crore to set up Transgender Welfare Board
• Rs 7995 crores allocated for textile development
• Rs 3254 crores allocated for animal husbandry & fisheries department

(With PTI inputs) 

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