MUMBAI: The state govt has sanctioned Rs 394 crore for developing 'NaMo gardens' in every municipal council and nagar panchayat in the state, with Rs 1 crore approved per garden. Dy CM
Eknath Shinde, who approved the funds as urban development minister, said this is a "gift" given by Maharashtra on the occasion of the 75th birthday of PM Narendra Modi.
Shinde said, "It has been decided to develop a garden in all the municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state under the unique and new Nagar Panchayat, Nagarpalika scheme. These parks will be named 'Namo Udyan' and will be developed in a total of 394 municipal councils and nagar panchayats within a year."
A competition for these newly-developed parks will be organized at the divisional level and prizes given to three councils/nagar panchayats from each division, Dy CM Shinde said.
"Prize money of Rs 5 crore for the first place, Rs 3 crore for the second and Rs 1 crore for the third place will be given to the winning municipal councils and nagar panchayats as additional development funds," he said.
In the state budget presented by Dy CM Ajit Pawar in April, financial strain was apparent in the figures. The state's debt projection is Rs 9.3 lakh crore, more than 10% higher than it was in 2024-25, when the figure was Rs 8.39 lakh crore.
It is almost thrice as high as it was a decade ago. Its revenue deficit - the gap between the state's income and expenditure - is nearly Rs 20,000 crore more than the estimate last year, which was Rs 26,535 crore.
The state govt has also pulled the purse strings for public works like roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, saying it is necessary to limit the number of newly-sanctioned works. It has issued fresh guidelines for sanctioning public works and said an amount more than the budget provision for the public works department (PWD) has already been sanctioned for projects, so it is impossible for the department to pay for these works from the allocation received in the budget.
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