Maharashtra Budget: New Airport, EV Charging Stations and Metro- Here's all that's promised

The budget announced by the Maharashtra government's deputy chief minister and finance minister includes multiple allocations and announcements for the automobile, railway and aviation sectors.

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Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who also holds the post of finance minister, presented the Maharashtra budget for 2022. The budget covered multiple sectors but here we have focused on what it had for the automobile, railways and aviation sectors.

The budget pushes forward to increase the adoption of electric vehicles for environment protection. Moving forward in this direction, the finance minister announced that 5,000 EV charging stations will be installed in the state. In addition, 3,000 eco-friendly buses will be bought for state transportation.

The government also announced Rs 1500 cr will be allotted for Pune Ring Road to improve transportation. The project is supposed to decrease the traffic in the city by covering the external areas. The development of the project is to be done in multiple phases.

As per the announcement a sum of Rs 7500 crore has been set aside for 10,000 km of road improvement under the Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana Phase-II and 6550 km of road improvement under the Prime Minister's Village Road Scheme Phase-3.

As for the rail sector, the budget allocates Rs 16,000 cr for the semi-high speed rail line between Nashik and Pune. The semi-high speed rail corridor is a 235.15 km project covering the distance between the two cities along with 20 railway stations. He also announced a detailed project report (DPR) for laying the metro network in Pune will be prepared.

As for the aviation sector, the finance minister announced building a new airport in Gadchiroli is in consideration. The announcement also included funding for airport improvements in Shirdi, Ratnagiri, Amravati, and Kolhapur.