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State gifts Vidarbha Rs 10,000-crore package
It is being seen as an attempt to take the wind out of the demand for a separate Vidarbha state.Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, on Wednesday, announced a Rs 10,000-crore development package for the Vidarbha region, notorious for farmers’ suicides.
It is being seen as an attempt to take the wind out of the demand for a separate Vidarbha state.Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, on Wednesday, announced a Rs 10,000-crore development package for the Vidarbha region, notorious for farmers’ suicides.
Chavan unveiled a series of infrastructure, irrigation, education and housing projects for the region in the state legislature.
“I am serious about the development of this backward region and have planned its implementation in a time-bound manner,” Chavan said. “The package will be for the coming three years. I will regularly monitor its implementation and the chief secretary’s office will review it periodically.”
The Opposition in the Legislative Council had staged a walk out earlier in the day protesting against the government’s ‘unjust’ attitude towards Vidarbha.
Chavan said that Rs 3,098-crore will be spent to complete 20 irrigation projects in the region. “We will ensure that 57,577 hectares of land gets irrigation facilities by June 2010,” he said.The government will also acquire 250 hectares for an airport in Gadchiroli with the help of Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation.
Floor space index in Nagpur and Amravati will be increased to 2.5 from the existing 1.5 to enable the building of at least 60,000 new houses.
Chavan admitted that he was not satisfied with the implementation of relief packages for farmers in the region’s six suicide-prone districts and insisted on a social audit of such packages.
Chavan also announced that the government would recruit Class I and Class II officers and post them in backward areas under a regional cadres like the Vidarbha cadre.
The government also plans to focus on the development of the Naxal and tribal district of Gadchiroli and provide self-employment opportunities to 30,000 families over three years.
Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party legislators also staged a walkout in the Assembly because the package had nothing for the paddy growers of eastern Vidarbha. “The winter session has hardly given any relief to the people of Vidarbha,” said Leader of Opposition, Eknath Khadse.
