Maharashtra's jumbo cabinet of ministers and ministers of state, comprising 39 ministers and 30 ministers of state, was announced today by the state administration in which the notable changes pertain to the absence of agriculture minister Rohidas Patil who has been dropped and minister of state for home (urban) Kripashankar Singh being shifted to rural Maharashtra.
Patil's important portfolio of agriculture has been handed over to Govindrao Adik who stepped down from the post of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president prior to his induction into the state cabinet of ministers.
The agricultural portfolio is o crucial importance in the run up to the polls, with the Democratic Front government keen to implement agriculturist-friendly initiatives in the next few months, which may include reduced load shedding in rural regions in Maharashtra.
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The jumbo-sized ministry will cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 105 crore in establishment costs till September 2004, when assembly elections scheduled in the state will bring its tenure to an end.
Officials in the state government noted that entitlements of cabinet ministers be it the Rs 60,000 permitted in telephone calls (which include three telephone lines at their office, residence and constituency) or Rs 10,000 in petrol reimbursements every month for their official vehicle would do little to rejuvenate the fiscal crisis looming large over the state.
While cabinet ministers are entitled to four personal assistants, one personal secretary and three sepoys at state expense, the ministers of state are entitled to three personal assistants, one personal secretary and one sepoy.
In addition to this the increase in the number of ministers and ministers of state would entail expenditure on creating office space for the additional incumbents in Mantralaya besides finding official residential accomodation in the close vicinity of Mantralaya.
Adding to the annual expenditure of Rs 1.25 crore per ministers is also the lavish travel allowance that permits ministers to travel by first class flights, to be footed by the state exchequer.
The pressures to increase the size of the state cabinet of ministers has resulted in further subdivisions being created in existing portfolios such as the higher and technical education, earlier held by Dilip Walse Patil.
The department has now been bifurcated in higher education to be held by Laxmanrao Dhobale while Patil will continue to hold technical education and the energy portfolio.
Another notable change has seen the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) deputy chief minister in the DF government Chaggan Bhujbal losing out his tourism portfolio that has been handed over to Jaidatta Kshirsagar.