MUMBAI, June 23 -- A mere three months after CM Devendra Fadnavis presented the Rs.7.69 lakh crore budget for 2026-27, the government has tabled supplementary demands of a whopping Rs.97,706 crore or 12.70% of the total budget size. Supplementary demands are made for expenditure that is beyond what is estimated in the annual budget. Finance department officials admitted that the supplementary demands were not entirely related to unforeseen expenditure (as they should be) while the opposition alleged that the government was using the supplementary demands route to maintain the fiscal deficit within the 3%-of-GDP limit prescribed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. The Fadnavis government has continued the trend of huge supplementary allocations to the main budget, which began in June 2024 when CM Eknath Shinde announced vote-catching schemes such as Ladki Bahin before the assembly elections. Supplementary demands exceeding 20% of the annual budget size have subsequently been the norm, which is expected to happen this year too with two more rounds to go in December and next March. A report by Samarthan, an NGO that analyses state budgets, has raised concerns about such huge supplementary demands immediately after the budget, saying that this indicates shortcomings in estimating major expenditure and schemes. "Schemes such as the Simhastha Kumbh and Swachh Maharashtra Abhiyan were not sudden developments and could have been included in the original budget," the report stated. Samarthan also pointed out that Article 205 of the Constitution provides for supplementary grants only in exceptional circumstances. "Repeated reliance on supplementary demands could make the original budget a mere formality," the report stated. "The need to keep the fiscal deficit below 3% of state GDP forces the government to keep certain allocations out of the main budget," said a senior official. "The original allocations face pressure due to supplementary demands."...