RTI activist says Maharashtra gets too little funding than UP for building medical colleges

An RTI activist has cited a reply received through a Right to Information Act filing and said that Maharashtra has got way too little funding as compared to the UP for building medical colleges.

Earlier, the Centre had floated a scheme, under this a total of 157 new medical colleges would be set up in three phases in 27 state-Union Territories in India with funds sharing of Centre-State 60:40 and North East/special category states in 90:10 ratios.

Now, an RTI activist named Prafful Sarda has claimed that Maharashtra has got only INR 263 crore out of INR 17,935.21 crore funds allotted for building medical colleges across the country. The state will get INR 113.4 crore for phase-I and INR 150 crore for phase III and no funds are allotted for phase II. The activist has cited a reply received through a Right to Information Act filling. 

As per this reply, the maximum funding of INR 2,467 crore has been released for Uttar Pradesh. The activist has also alleged that the Centre has given maximum funds to UP due to the upcoming Assembly Elections in UP in early 2022. Moreover, the highest number of medical colleges have been allotted to UP.

"Maharashtra contributes maximum GST and tax revenues to the central kitty. Its population is the second-highest in the country but compared to other BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, the state is being given a step-motherly treatment," said the activist, as reported by TOI.

Maharastra Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh also said, "It is true that our state has been given a very small share but we are pursuing the central government to allot us more funds so that we could improve health facilities in rural, backward, Naxal-hit and aspiring districts of Maharashtra."

Read more:

• India has 157 Medical Colleges at Different Stages of Implementation: Harsh Vardhan
• We have added 1900 medical seats in Uttar Pradesh in past 4 yrs: PM Modi