Maharashtra Govt Increases Budget Of “Shasan Aplya Dari” Initiative

An order issued by the Maharashtra planning department last week noted that the state government has upped/increased the budget on its well-advertised "Shasan Aplya Dari" (government at your doorstep) project to INR 3 crore from the present INR 1 crore.

In the previous order, it was stated that the district administration was permitted to take about 0.2 per cent with a limit of INR 1 crore for District Planning Development Committee (DPDC) funds, and for the said program as well.

On August 18, the state's planning division released a government resolution raising the cap to "...1% with a limit of Rs 3 crore of the District Planning Development Committee Funds." When asked why the program's funding had been increased, the Chief Minister's Office and the planning division declined to respond.

Shasan Aplya Dari initiative was launched in May 2023. The main goal of this initiative is to take all the government made plans and its plan of action to the doorstep of the citizens so that they could be benefitted of different schemes without taking any stress.

For this initiative, a team has been set up by the Chief Minister's Office across the state along with the appointment of 15,146 volunteers.

Citizens who are recipients of any other government programs must be brought in for this initiative, according to a directive given to the district administration.

With the aim of reaching out to people, they have held programs in Satara, Latur, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, and Nashik.

Since Shinde-government came into power, they have announced various initiatives targeting different communities and sizeable professional groups. The administration is now focussing on the execution of schemes of direct benefit to woo people as the assembly elections are due next year along with general elections.

Eknath Shinde, the Chief Minister, and his two Deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, attended the occasion in Nashik last month. While speaking at the event, Fadnavis took a swipe at former Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray. He said, "Uddhav Thackeray claimed that we did not understand much about agriculture, cooperation, and other fields. But now, we all three are experts in all the sectors including politics, agriculture, and cooperation.”

Before the program started, candidates seeking various benefits were identified by several government departments, and they were handed certificates. Nearly 2 lakh beneficiaries resided in Nashik district, according to officials.

According to officials, the Shasan Aplya Dari scheme will be implemented more effectively by the state government via the Maha Labharthi (mega beneficiary) site. CM Shinde advised that the portal be used well so that the greatest number of citizens may readily receive benefits.

The Maha Labharthi portal was built by Maharashtra Gyan Mahamandal (MKCL). After a citizen uploads their information on this portal, a list of potential government programs for which they might qualify is made available.

The Opposition has already criticised a few events in this regard for their costly arrangements and exploitation of public resources at the expense of the people to draw large audiences to various event locations. On August 7, NCP MLA Rohit Pawar asserted that the government had spent only INR 52.90 crores on advertising the program.