Budget: What fell in Maharashtra's kitty?

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) Maharashtra Thursday managed to get a few goodies in the union budget 2014-15, though Mumbai was completely left out.

The renowned Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune will be accorded status of an "institute of national importance", along with the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata.

It was also proposed to set up a National Centre for Excellence in Animation, Gaming and Special Effects in Maharashtra.

A National Industrial Corridor Authority, to be headquartered in Pune, will come up to coordinate development of all industrial corridors.

With the upcoming smart cities linked to transport connectivity, this would be one of the key strategies to drive India's growth in manufacturing and urbanisation for which an amount of Rs.1 billion has been sanctioned.

A plan to set up four more institutions on the lines of New Delhi's famed AIIMS are planned for Vidarbha in Maharashtra, along with Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, for which Rs.5 billion has been kept aside.

Maharashtra will also get an IIM, along with similar ones in Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Bihar.

Shiv Sena youth leader Aditya Thackeray, who had made the demand some time ago, welcomed the move.

The perspective plan for the Mumbai-Bangalore Economic Corridor would be completed along with Chennai-Vizag corridor and a provision for 20 more such industrial corridors/clusters.

Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, along with Kandla in Gujarat, will get special economic zone (SEZs) and a comprehensive policy will be announced this year to promote the shipbuilding industry.

Belying expectations, there were no Mumbai-specific announcements in the budget which disappointed all political parties preparing for the assembly elections in the state in October.

It turned out to be second major disappointment as Mumbai was virtually overlooked even in the railway budget.