Staff Reporter 

 

 

IT IS our responsibility to complete the work done by our government in the last two-and-ahalf years at a fast pace. The schemes undertaken to transform Vidarbha and Marathwada will be given the momentum,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured while replying to the discussion in State Assembly on the last week resolution. Fadnavis elaborated, “Wainganga Painganga Nalganga river linking project was put on track. Tenders were floated after removing all the difficulties in two and a half years. It is a project worth Rs 88,000 crore.We will lift 62TMC of water. 10 lakh hectares of land will come under irrigation. The people of Vidarbha will start receiving benefits in coming 3-4 years.The Baliraja scheme includes 110 projects in Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra. An expenditure of Rs 25,000 crore will be spent on it.” Gadchiroli to be next ‘steel city’ FADNAVIS asserted that Gadchiroli district will be naxalfree in the next three years and Gadchiroli will be the ‘steel city’ of India. Fadnavis listed several infrastructure projects across the State and farmer-centric initiatives. Fadnavis pointed out, “Northern part of the Gadchiroli district, borderingTelangana and Chhattisgarh, has been rid of naxals and is on the path of development. Naxals have either been killed or they have surrendered. About 1,500 youth from the district, which is in the State’s Vidarbha region, have joined the police force of which 150 are from families of Naxals,” Fadnavis said firmly. Fadnavis said capacity building for Gadchiroli, about 900 km from Mumbai, to make it the‘steel city’ of India is in full swing. He said Gondia and Gadchiroli are being linked through the MumbaiNagpur Samruddhi Expressway. Water tourism, Forest tourism IT WAS a studious speech by Fadnavis, who presented statistics also while informing the House about his Government’s works. “

 

The Gosikhurd project has created an opportunity for water tourism. Along with water tourism, forest tourism will also be done. Sewage flowing through the Naag river, Pohra river and Pivli river will be purified. The Centre has given Rs 1,900 crore for this,” stated Fadnavis. The Kanhan River Diversion Scheme has been approved. The scheme worth Rs 1,879 crore will increase irrigation in the district. Medical seats increased, industry growing MEDICAL colleges have been started in five places - Amravati, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Buldhana and Wardha. 900 additional seats have been created under the Government quota to be availed by those many students. “After Pune, Maharashtra now has new industrial magnates viz Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Jalna. There is a competition to start industries in the industrial estate here. There is no space left there. We are making Jalna a dry port. The coaches of Vande Bharat Express Railway will be manufactured in the coach factory of Latur.We have announced a textile park in Amravati. Cotton to cloth and cloth to fashion as well as dresses are made there. Under PM Mitra, greenfield and brownfield parks are being built in Amravati.

 

There will be an investment of Rs 10,000 crore and 2 lakh jobs will be created. We are going to build a coal gasification plot in Chandrapur district,” said Fadnavis. Resolving water scarcity issue “THERE is a drought in Marathwada due to the deficit basins in Godavari. We are going to bring 54 TMC water to the Godavari basin through various schemes and overcome it. There is a problem of Marathwada water grid. The work of Marathwada Water Grid was given to an Israeli company. This company submitted a preliminary concept report. After that, the work of eight districts was approved.The Maha Vikas Aghadi Government suspended these works. The Centre had asked to send the DPR under the Jaljeevan Mission. At that time, the full money would have been received from the Centre. But, the Maha Vikas Aghadi sent a fragmented DPR.Therefore, after our Government came to power, the complete DPR has been sent,” Chief Minister clarified. “When the new Government came to power in Marathwada, 34 major projects came up. An investment of Rs 72,839 crore and 40,000 jobs were created and 1 lakh indirect jobs were created. A multi-modal logistics park is being built in Jalna,” elaborated Fadnavis. Fadnavis said, “A bonus of Rs 20,000 per hectare for paddy growers and Rs 5,000 per hectare for soybean and cotton farmers have been provided. Soybean procurement, which will continue till January 12, has started at 557 centres and 23.68 lakh tonnes of the grain legume crop have been procured so far, he said. At present, the rate of soybean is Rs 4,892 per quintal.” In 2024-25, cotton has been grown on 40 lakh hectares and a production of 427 lakh quintals is expected. “CCI (Cotton Corporation of India) has opened procurement centres but the market rate is attractive at Rs 7,200-7,500. Hence, farmers are selling directly to traders,” Fadnavis said. “The permission to raise the height ofAlmatti dam from 519.60 metres to 524 metres was given to Karnataka in 2013.We are keeping a watch and will ensure that people and farmers in the Sangli and Kolhapur districts do not suffer due to flooding,” Fadnavis informed the House.