NCP Chief Sharad Pawar Asks Centre Additional Funds For Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over additional funds for Maharashtra.

In a letter, he shared on Twitter on Sunday, he said that the in the absence of fiscal help, the states will not be in a position supplement the required national government efforts in the battle against COVID-19.

"It is imperative that in these testing times the Government of India should offer suitable financial assistance to states also. The Government of Maharashtra requests additional grants of untied nature to the tune of 1 lakh crores for the Financial year 2020-21," he wrote in the letter.

"In the eventual recovery of Indian economy, the states will play a major role and if left without any help, the states will not be in a position to supplement the required national government efforts," the NCP chief added.

Pawar, leader of the party which is running a coalition government with the Congress and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

"The state makes repayment of Rs 10,500 crore every year on account of the NSSF loan given by Government of India. It is requested to extend two-year moratorium on loan repayment. It will help in bridging the likely budgetary gap," he added.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown since March 25 due to the coronavirus outbreak and was later extended till May 3 to contain the spread of COVID-19. Due to the lockdown, all services have been shut, movements suspended which has resulted in the drastic fall of revenue of the states.

Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with 7,628 coronavirus cases, including 323 deaths. The total number of coronavirus cases in India reached 26,917 on Sunday evening and the toll rose to 826, according to the health ministry's update at 5 pm.

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