Vidarbha's issues such as farmer suicides, underdevelopment, and delayed irrigation projects may be raised by opposition; govt's reply will be aggressive too
The state legislative assembly's winter session commencing Monday promises to be a test for the Fadnavis government. In each winter session, legislators from across the party lines air Vidarbha's issues, and frequently bring assembly proceedings to a complete halt. This time round, farmer suicides, the financial package to the drought-hit farmers of Vidarbha and Marathwada, the lack of industrial development in Vidarbha and other regions, and delay in irrigation projects including Mauda, would be the highlights of the winter session.
This time though, Nagpur's very own Devendra Fadnavis is chief minister, and another stalwart from Vidarbha in Chandrapur's Sudhir Mungantiwar is finance minister. They have decided to turn the tables on the opposition by giving a suitable reply to all the issues raised during the session, said a senior minister.
Congress' criticism
So far, the Congress party, most notably former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, has lambasted the state government for not announcing a relief package on its own instead of waiting for help from the centre. According to Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti President Kishor Tiwari, so far this year, 1,022 farmers in the state's cotton belt have been driven to suicide because of scarcity of water and the crisis in agriculture.
Govt's counter-attack
The state government would be presenting a detailed account of suicides and region-wise crop damage along with ameliorative measures taken by it. The state government has already sought a financial package of Rs. 3,924 crore from the centre; and a team from the centre has arrived in the state to gauge the drought situation and the damage caused by it. Last week the state's finance minister Eknath Khadse called on the union finance minister Arun Jaitley and the union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to present Maharashtra's case for receiving a financial package.
The minister added that the state government would be grilling the Congress and Nationalist Congress parties over the fact that the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial was announced by them as part of the 2004 state budget, and it remained on paper during their tenure.
Fadnavis at work
The Fadnavis government has initiated the speedy implementation of the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial project, said the minister. Moreover, the minister said that Fadnavis has speeded up the process for building the multi-modal international cargo hub and international airport (MIHAN) project at Nagpur. Moreover, he has visited Javkheda where three members of a Dalit family were killed.
CM from Vidarbha
It would be after more than 20 years that a chief minister from Vidarbha holds the post during the winter session, which is always held in Nagpur. The previous incumbent from Vidarbha was the late Sudhakarrao Naik from Yavatmal; after the 1993 Mumbai riots took place under his watch, the then-Congress veteran Sharad Pawar was sent to take over the reins of Maharashtra by the then-prime minister P V Narsimha Rao.
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