The Maharashtra government has sought special support, from the Finance Commission, for the city of Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Press Trust of India reported. In its meeting with the Finance Commission, the government sought Rs. 50,000 crores for Mumbai and its surrounding townships.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis batted for the particular grant to Mumbai by observing that “Mumbai is the backbone of our economy. We must strengthen Mumbai’s infrastructure. We need to acknowledge the importance of Mumbai in the nation’s GDP”.
In addition to the special grant for Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has also sought a special grant of Rs 32,327 crores for carrying out various development activities. An estimated Rs 25,000 crores out of the Rs. 32,327 crores are proposed for bettering living standards of residents of Marathwada and Vidarbha which have historically been economically backwards.
Various other requests for grants were made for activities ranging from environmental management to the preservation of culture and heritage. The Chief Minister also sought the use of rural data from the Socio-Economic Caste Census to measure deprivation which could be a factor for arriving at the devolution formula.