Maharashtra govt to set up minorities commissionerate: minister Kamble
The Maharashtra minorities commissionerate will be headed by minorities commissioner of IAS rank officer and will have under its wings Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation (MAMFDC), Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs, Maharashtra State Haj Committee, Maharashtra State Urdu Academy and Maharashtra State Minorities Commission.
The Maharashtra government plans to set up a minority commissionerate to cater to the growing needs of Muslims and other minorities of the state. According to minister of state for minority department Dilip Kamble, the funds for the commissionerate will be drawn from the annual ₹350 crore corpus of the minorities department and the new set up will be ready in the next two months. The commissionerate, according to officials, will either be at Pune or Aurangabad.
“As far as setting up the commissionerate is concerned, it can be done either in Aurangabad or Pune. However, I strongly feel that Pune being hub of education must be rewarded with the commissionerate headquarters positively. I have personally recommended setting up the minority commissionerate in Pune ,” Kamble said in an interview to Hindustan Times.
The minister said that a detailed proposal regarding the new minorities commissionerate has already been drafted and approved by the state government. It is awaiting a few more governmental clearances after which the work for setting up the new commissionerate will begin . The commissionerate secretariat aims to bring various subjects and departments of minorities welfare under one roof to ensure that the end users from the communities can get hassle free access to government services with better focus, coordination, speedy and effective implementation of the minorities related welfare initiatives and programmes.
The Maharashtra minorities commissionerate will be headed by minorities commissioner of IAS rank officer and will have under its wings Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation (MAMFDC), Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs, Maharashtra State Haj Committee, Maharashtra State Urdu Academy and Maharashtra State Minorities Commission.
Kamble said, “The state government has taken a review of the functioning of all the minorities department and felt it essential to establish a dedicated commissionerate aimed at enhancing the supporting infrastructure at the district level and also to ensure that the benefits of the government reach to the nook and cranny of the state with better supervision and monitoring.”
The government will hire new recruits to man the new commissionerate based on the recruitment inputs which will be provided by the ministry of minority affairs administrative staff. “We will utilise the existing manpower available with the government and new recruitments will be done based on the arising needs,” Kamble said.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Imtiaz Jaleel said, “I had raised the issue to establish the commissionerate from where all the minority related schemes could be run and monitored directly by an IAS officer. Ironically, government is just doing lip service. There are boys working in Maulana Azad financial corporation for over eight years and their salaries are just above ₹6,000. How can they work and do justice to minority schemes if they themselves are being paid a pittance.”