Maha budget session extended by one day, to conclude on Mar 2

The budget session of the Maharashtra Legislature, which is set to begin on February 25, has been extended by a day, officials said on Tuesday.

As per the earlier schedule, the session was to conclude on March 1.

"The duration of the budget session has been increased by one day for a debate on drought situation. It will now conclude on March 2," officials said after the meeting of Business Advisory Committee (BAC).

The budget session will begin on February 25 with address of Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to both houses of the legislature.

The vote-on-account will be tabled in the state Legislature on February 27, the officials said, adding that a debate will take place the next day (February 28), when the budgetary provisions will be passed.

Apart from the supplementary demands, both the Houses of the state Legislature will hold a debate on drought from March 1. The debate will conclude on March 2 with the government's reply, they said.

There are six Bills to be taken up for the passage during the session.

In December last year, the government had decided to curtail the budget session to five days.

Earlier, the session was supposed to start from February 18 and go on for three weeks. However, as the model code of conduct is expected to come into force in March, it would have become difficult to implement the schemes announced in the budget. Hence, it was decided to have a shorter session with a vote-on-account, sources said.

The state cabinet decided to postpone the start of the budget session to February 25. It was scheduled to end on March 1.

The monsoon session in July will be the last one for the Devendra Fadnavis-led government as Assembly polls are due in Maharashtra by October.

A full-fledged budget will be presented during the monsoon session, sources said.