Rane takes govt. to task for fiscal ‘mismanagement’

MUMBAI: Narayan Tatu Rane has always been known—and admired—in the state’s political and administrative circles for his passion for facts, figures and finery.
As chairman of the municipalised BEST committee in the late 1980s, Rane would spend hours with senior bureaucrats piecing together the nut, bolt and the chassis of the BEST’s account books.
The leader of the opposition has yet again marshalled his drafting skills to take the ruling DF government to task for the ‘mismanagement’ of the state’s finances. That the Shiv Sena leader should brandish the pen is a tad surprising for a party which believes in street-savvy politics and suicide squads. The Sena has of late been spearheading a series of ‘raasta-rokos’ in Mumbai to condemn the DF rule.
In a slim booklet released on Tuesday, Rane discusses the ‘failures’ of the Vilasrao Deshmukh ministry which completed three years in office on October 18. Studded with straight facts, culled together by Rane, and crooked lines by noted caricaturist Vikas Sabnis, the Marathi booklet is a strongly-worded indictment of the ruling DF alliance which dismantled the Sena-BJP regime headed by Rane after the 1999 assembly elections.
“Over the last few days the state government has been assiduously marketing its ‘gains’. But facts are contrary to the claims made by the CM and the deputy CM. The CM is actually misleading the people of the state. Maharashtra’s financial condition is pitiable,’’ Mr Rane told journalists after the booklet was released by senior Sena MLA Dattaji Nalavade at the Sena’s Nariman Point headquarters.
With revenue deficit reaching a staggering 109 per cent and a 12 per cent cut in capital expenditure, the state is groaning under astronomical financial burden. In its July 2002 report, ICRA, a leading rating agency, has brought down Maharashtra from LAA to LA, a poor third position.
Moreover, the IDBI, in a recent petition before the debt recovery tribunal, suggested that the co-operation department’s office in Mantralaya be seized to recover Rs 550 crore from the state government as it failed to honour the loan guarantee to IDBI, Rane said.
“District treasuries have been shut down and at least two state-controlled irrigation corporations have been declared defaulters. Even senior artistes have not been getting their measly monthly pensions as the state exchequer is empty,’’ he said.
“The latest move to register a case against Sena chief Bal Thackeray for his outbursts is the state government’s clever ploy to deflect the attention of the people from the grave problems that affect the state,’’ Rane said.