India, Aug. 21 -- Maharashtra's finance minister Ajit Pawar has brought expenditures worth around Rs.1,000 crore reserved for "innovative work" schemes at the district level under the state government's direct control after being told that the funds were being used for unnecessary and unrelated expenditures over the last two financial years.

At a time when the state's debt burden is set to soar to Rs.9.32 lakh crore, partly due to populist welfare schemes such as the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, Pawar has directed the planning department to start reviewing its spending after noticing that funds were misused for "purchase-oriented expenditures" that had nothing to do with innovative work, officials said.

According to officials, Pawar review...