The state legislature's budget session got off to a rocky start, with the Opposition trying to disrupt the address of governor K Sankaranarayanan before the joint sitting of the two Houses.
In his customary speech, Sankaranarayanan touched on the new toll policy for the state, which is under consideration, and began with references to proposed memorials for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj.
This is the last session of the legislature before the crucial Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition on Sunday had threatened to disrupt the governor's speech if he did not clarify on certain points, including a new toll policy for Maharashtra, the Adarsh scam, the local body tax (LBT), which is meant to replace the much-reviled octroi but has been opposed by the traders, and allegations of corruption against 16 ministers. The BJP has also demanded Sankaranarayanan's removal for his refusal to allow the CBI to prosecute former CM Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam.
Opposition members protested on the steps of Vidhan Bhavan before the session commenced. As the session began at 11am, members led by leader of the Opposition Vinod Tawde, Devendra Fadanvis,
Girish Mahajan and others trooped into well and raised slogans of "vapas jao". Slogans questioning the decision to disallow the prosecution of Ashok Chavan, scrapping of LBT and action against corrupt ministers were also raised.
The governor opened his speech in Marathi and read out the first paragraph in the state language before switching over to English. As Sankaranarayanan tried to make himself heard over the din, members
from the ruling alliance thumped their benches in support at times.
"In the state, 4,484km road length, out of the 2.42 lakh km, has been developed through (the) Public Works Department, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and National Highway Authority on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. So far, 67 toll plazas have been closed. For bringing uniform policy regarding the projects to be implemented under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, a PPP toll policy is under consideration," said Sankaranarayanan.
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