National   

Maharashtra seeks Rs. 6,000 cr. aid

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI AUG. 21 . When Maharashtra today sought a Rs. 6,000 crore aid from the Centre for sprucing up Mumbai, easing commuter travel, providing more drinking water and redeveloping slums, it made a departure from its habit of merely asking for a special grant. It pegged its demand on specific projects, either executed, under way or proposed. In the past, it had sought smaller sums, upward of Rs. 1,000 crores, without success.

The total cost of the projects the Maharashtra Government presented to the Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, today in New Delhi is thrice the amount requested. The Government itself intends to raise a part of the costs. It is hoping that the Centre will pitch in with timely help, including softening the Coastal Zone Regulations. Already, some Rs. 2,400 crores had been committed as loan by the World Bank for a component of the scheme, which would make suburban train travel a shade easier.

The premise on which the high-power delegation led by the Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, based Maharashtra's claim for help was not new. Mumbai contributed some five per cent to the national GDP, handled a third of all port traffic and pitched in with about 40 per cent of the revenues.

But all it got was a regular flow of migrants who added to the stress on the infrastructure. Mumbai was the favourite port of call for out-of-work people and nearly two-thirds of the city's population comprised migrants.

The Prime Minister was told that in the recent past, investment in critical infrastructure had fallen and what had been added was more slums. Already 55 per cent of the population lived in slums.

The only time Mumbai received any special assistance was when the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, gave it Rs. 100 crores. That money was spent on slum improvement. Though a rupee stretched more in those days, it was still a mere pittance, given the scale of the problem.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Troops to Iraq: India `watching' U.S. moves
• Task Force on micro irrigation to submit report in two months
• Taj case: CBI asked to question more persons
• LCA to be tested with Kaveri engine
• Sushma clarifies on soft drinks
• 'Cong. has an open mind on Vidarbha'
• Cong. to continue efforts to `nail' NDA Govt.
• Maharashtra seeks Rs. 6,000 cr. aid
• Shabana Azmi for gender-just civil code
• Centre to consider T.N. CM's reservations on bridge proposal
• Our stand vindicated, say CSE, soft drink companies
• CSE tests on soft drinks faulty: CERC
• `FIRs against Advani, Joshi false'
• 'Trishul Diksha' plan foiled
• Keeping camel not offence: HC
• Many PSUs among PF defaulters
• Detained for possessing `forged' passport
• SC tells Centre to deport 14 Pak. prisoners
• Need for forum to raise farmers' issues underscored
• Women activists seek 33 p.c. quota
• BJP denies charge against Vajpayee
• Framing of charges against Advani, Joshi on Sept. 3
• 'It all depends on Pak. decision'

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu