Cong moots Rs 1,500 cr Mumbai plan, free power

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance today announced free power to farmers and a Rs 1,500 crore scheme for infrastructure improvement in Mumbai but skipped the controversial Vidarbha statehood issue and loan-waiver to farmers.

Although the manifesto skipped the Vidarbha issue, the Democratic Front (DF) alliance has promised removal of developmental backlog of backward regions like Vidarbha by making special budgetary allocation.

To alleviate the plight of farmers in Vidarbha, many of whom have committed suicides, the alliance has decided to continue the cotton monopoly purchase scheme, promising an assured price of Rs 2,700 a quintal.

Releasing a joint manifesto of the alliance here, AICC general secretary Margaret Alva said the manifesto attempted to meet the expectations of people of all strata of the society.

In an attempt to upset the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party poll calculations in Mumbai and to garner votes of slum-dwellers, the alliance has also announced that it will legalise all slums in Mumbai that have come up till year 2000.

The saffron combine had promised to regularise slums that had come up only till 1995, and had announced that there would be no further extension.

The Sena-BJP manifesto also promised to undertake construction of a grand statue and memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the Arabian Sea, similar to the Vivekananda's memorial at Kanyakumari.

The manifesto, which was prepared by a committee headed by veteran Congress leader Ramrao Adik, has lots of promises for the rural populace. Over 1 million hectares of barren land will be converted into cultivable land; bringing 700,000 hectares of land under micro-irrigation, free power and power bills waiver, comprehensive personal and crop insurance scheme for farmers, flat-rate loans to farmers and health scheme for all by 2005.

On the Vidarbha statehood issue, party in-charge for state and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digivjay Singh said, "the issue was not included because the AICC working committee has already passed a resolution on it".

"The new state reorganisation committee will decide Vidarbha's issue along with Telangana," Singh quoted the AICC resolution.

The Congress and the NCP leaders said they would jointly support any demand for Vidarbha statehood if it comes from the people.

Asked why the limit to regularise slums has been raised 2000, Chief Minister SK Shinde said, this was done since the government received such demand from the people.

Stating that the growing population of Mumbai was already putting pressure on city's infrastructure, he, however, said the new development plan would take into account the city's needs up to 2020.

The DF manifesto, therefore incorporates a Rs 1,500 crore for infrastructure development in Mumbai, he said.