09 March,2023 06:05 PM IST | Mumbai | Ronak Mastakar
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state Marathi Language Minister Deepak Kesarkar display suitcase containing papers of the State Budget 2023-24 to be presented during the Budget Session of the State Assembly, in Mumbai on Thursday. ANI Photo
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that 700 âAapla Dawakhana' clinics will be opened across the state.
While presenting the budget for the year 2023-24, Fadnavis said: "I make a very important health announcement now. The treatment limit under Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Janarogya Yojana will be increased from Rs. 1.50 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs per annum. New 200 hospitals will be included in this scheme and the limit of kidney transplant surgery will be increased from Rs. 2.50 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh."
During the budget presentation, Fadnavis said the outlay for farmers has been increased by Rs 6,900 crore and the coverage of the Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya scheme, a health insurance scheme of the government, has been raised from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
Fadnavis further said that an outlay of Rs 3,501 crores has been proposed under scheme expenditure for the Public Health Department in 2023-24.
The finance minister started reading out the budgetary allocations in the Lower House of the state legislature at 2 pm. He read out the budgetary provisions from an iPad instead of a conventional paper document.
This is for the first time that Fadnavis presented the state budget as he holds the finance portfolio. During Fadnavis' tenure as the chief minister between 2014-19, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sudhir Mungantiwar was the finance minister.
The Shinde-led government, in which his faction of the Shiv Sena and the BJP share power, was formed in June 2022.