Maharashtra council: Uproar over Kelkar committee report

The Maharashtra legislative council on Monday witnessed uproar over government's failure to table the Kelkar committee report on regional imbalance in the state.

The Maharashtra legislative council on Monday witnessed uproar over government's failure to table the Kelkar committee report on regional imbalance in the state.

While the Opposition demanded that the report be tabled on Monday, the government said that it would table the report in this session but did not specify a date.

The Opposition members also demanded from the government as to how the report was leaked in the newspapers and electronic media before it was tabled in the house.

State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said that the members of the house have certain right. "By leaking the report to media the government has breached our privilege. The report should be tabled today itself so that it can be discussed in the next two days. The people of Vidarbha and Marathwada have lots of hope from the report," he said.

Hemant Takle, another Congress member, said that it was a serious matter that the report as available outside the house but was not given to members officially. "I have some pages of the report which I got from outside sources," he claimed.

Amarsingh Pandit of NCP showed a copy of a newspaper and said that, "What is going on, the Kelkar Committee report is published in newspaper. But, we don't have information about it and it is not tabled in the House."

Most of the Congress and NCP members then started shouting and demanded that the government should table the report immediately.

The revenue minister Eknath Khadse hit back by saying that Congress-NCP government received the report six months back. "Why it didn't table the report when they were in power? The report has 750 pages. Just because one page was published in the newspaper does not mean the report is leaked. Besides, the committee was neither set up under Commission of Enquiry Act nor it is a classified document," he said.

NCP MLC Sunil Tatkare said that report should be tabled on Monday so that it could be discussed in the remaining two days. "Government should also enquire as to how the report got leaked," he demanded.

"They are not interested in discussion. We are going out," Thakre said following which Congress members walked out of the House immediately.

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, "We are serious about Vidarbha and Marathwada issues and discussion on them."

Under fire from the Opposition, the ministers started offering solutions bud the Opposition did not agree to any of those. Khadse said that if Congress and NCP were ready, the government would extend the session for a fortnight.

Mungantiwar said that BJP-Shiv Sena government could hold the budget session in Nagpur if the Opposition was so concerned about Vidarbha and Marathwada.

The Kelkar Committee, constituted in May 2011, studied the regional imbalance with regard to irrigation, agriculture, education, business, industries, self-employment and private investment.

(With inputs from agencies)