Maharashtra’s debt position has crossed a staggering Rs 3 lakh crore mark and the DF Government is finding it difficult to pay salaries and carry on with its development work, leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, Eknath Khadse, alleged on Sunday.
“The situation is alarming. The State’s debts have mounted to over Rs 3 lakh crore. There is total financial mismanagement and mess,” Khadse, a Finance Minister in the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance Government in the State, said, as he hit out at Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar. “The Government is not able to pay salaries in time, policemen are getting salaries after 15th of every month. The Government is raising loans after loans to pay salaries and undertake development works,” he said adding that the Government was yet to pay compensation to several of the farmers, who have been affected by recent hailstorms.Charging that Pawar had pushed the State into a serious financial mess, Shiv Sena’s group leader Subash Desai said: “The DF has forfeited its right to rule. The huge scam involving the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank is a glaring example of the mess we are witnessing in the State”.