The ruling and Opposition parties in Maharashtra want to increase divisible fund to 50 per cent from 42 per cent. They have also sought a special grant of Rs 50,000 crore to Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for infrastructure development and Rs 35,000 crore each for five years to underdeveloped Marathwada and Vidarbha to remove regional imbalance. The suggestions were made to the 15th Finance Commission led by former revenue secretary NK Singh. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its partner Shiv Sena and Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party also suggested that performing states like Maharashtra should be adequately compensated. They said the formula based on the 2011 census could lead to wealth transfer from the southern and western states to the northern ones. Sena and NCP in particular have emphasised the need to give maximum weightage to Maharashtra, which is more burdened with a migrating population. BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar pitched for the grant of a special package by the Centre to 10 districts with low human development index (HDI). These include Nandurbar (0.604), Gadchiroli (0.608), Washim (0.646), Hingoli (0.648), Osmanabad (0.649), Jalna (0.663), Beed (0.678), Parbhani (0.683), Buldhana (0.684), and Yavatmal (0.700). He also took a strong objection against the Finance Commission's observation with regard to falling revenue receipts to 11.05% in 2014-17 from 17.69% in 2009-13 and decline in the state's tax revenue to 8.16% from 19.44%. He went on to point out to the FC that the state will have a revenue surplus by the end of the current fiscal. NCP leader and former state finance minister Jayant Patil argued that with the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), states have lost their power of taxation due to centralisation. He suggested that VAT-empowered committee type structure, which is apolitical, should be formed to save GST from any political bias. Addressing agri distress, Patil urged the Finance Commission to consider a special mechanism apart from drought relief. Congress leaders Ratnakar Mahajan and Bhai Jagtap suggested that weightage given to population be reduced to 25% from 30% for Maharashtra to compensate its efforts to achieve progress on human development index. Besides, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation needs to be transferred a certain percentage of the divisible pool of taxes over and above the share of Maharashtra. Further, Mahajan suggested that the weightage given to income distance criteria in the devolution of taxes should be reduced to 40% from 50%. Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai suggested that adequate funds should be made available to the 28,500 panchayat raj institutions and 300 urban local bodies to build and maintain basic amenities and meet increasing capital expenditure. He argued that the Finance Commission needs to take into account backwardness of Vidarbha and Marathwada while using population as the parameter for fund allocation.

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