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Notwithstanding the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance government in Maharashtra has prepared a priority list of projects and programmes, to be implemented in a time-bound manner ahead of legislative assembly polls slated for September-October. The ruling partners propose to announce reservations for the politically influential Maratha community, 15 per cent of the state population, and quotas for Muslims in education and jobs.
This apart, the government would bring in a slew of changes in toll collection, improve implementation of the food security scheme, take necessary administrative and financial decisions to remove development backlog, with a special emphasis on completion of long-pending irrigation projects in the underdeveloped Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.
Further, the government plans to commission the Mumbai Metro-I project and a couple of other infrastructure upgrade projects in Mumbai with a proposed investment of Rs 66,000 crore. Maharashtra, the first state to get Presidential assent for its housing regulatory authority law, plans to put in place the regulator by August. Similarly, the government wants to showcase the Navi Mumbai International Airport for its rehabilitation package offered to villagers and also soon bring the villagers opposing the present compensation package on board. The government has already roped in Accenture to prepare a ‘Maharashtra growth model’ to counter the Gujarat model in the run-up to elections.
A blueprint of the plan was discussed at a meeting between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday evening. Both agreed on being “aggressive” in poll campaigning to counter the opposition parties and to contest the Assembly elections in an alliance to take on the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-led MahaYuti alliance.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Ratnakar Mahajan told Business Standard: “Irrespective of the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress & NCP in Maharashtra will continue their alliance at the state level and, contest the Assembly elections with possible smaller parties like Republican Party of India as a democratic front.
Mahajan said anti-incumbency was not a factor in itself and was not universal. "This is because we have seen many state governments repeating even after three terms,” he opined. The state cabinet would take a call on providing reservations in education and jobs to the Maratha community ranging between 10 per cent and 18 per cent, while 4 per cent quota is being planned for Muslims, who constitute 10 per cent of the state population. A high-level committee headed by Industries Minister Narayan Rane had already submitted its report on reservations for the Maratha community to the government.
Second, the government, in a bid to pacify parties and citizen organisations, would amend the existing toll collection policy, with a focus on transparency. There are over 172 toll collection booths of which, more than 30 have been closed while the government would soon take a decision on the closure of some more.
Besides, instead of multiple toll booths, the toll would be collected at one point only. The government is in favour of a separate body for fixing toll rates to avoid an ad-hoc rise effected by contractors.
Third, the government, which took the credit for the launch of the food security scheme to cover 70 million beneficiaries from February 1, would have to quickly address implementation-related issues. This apart, it would have to allocate adequate funds to provide similar benefits to those living above the poverty line.
