Chavan wants to see Maharashtra as a ‘global State’

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan envisions Maharashtra as a ‘global State,’ with a per capita income of Rs.1 lakh.

Addressing journalists on Saturday before the run up to the Assembly polls, Mr. Chavan said the State cabinet had 10 meetings recently and over a 100 decisions had been taken, for which financial provisions were also made.

While the Opposition has been alleging various corrupt deals by the Maharashtra government, Mr. Chavan said they should cite specific instances.

He also defended the recent grant of Rs. 110 crore to the Nanded District Cooperative Credit Bank, to help revive it. The Chief Minister denied that the Reserve Bank of India had taken exception to this. He said the Nanded bank could not remain closed indefinitely and that three years ago, an administrator had been appointed to help revive it. He added that the bank will start functioning soon.

Mr. Chavan said the State was beset by a number of problems and he had demanded the Centre’s help to the tune of Rs. 15,000 crore to tackle the drought. At least, the swine flu epidemic was under control with the increase in the number of treatment centres.

He said projects worth Rs. 50,000 crore were underway to make Mumbai a world class city. However, the ambitious Dharavi Re-development Project, the Bandra Worli sea-link extension to Haji Ali and redevelopment of the State Secretariat had not been decided on yet. Decisions on these major projects would be taken by the next government, he said.

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance had promised extension of the cut-off date for slum dwellers to January 1, 2000 )the earlier cut-off date was January 1, 1995) and a special leave petition was filed in the Supreme Court, since the matter was pending there. By extending the cut-off date, the State hopes to have more slum dwellers accessing proper housing and civic amenities.