Under pressure from the BJP-led Opposition, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday announced in the State Assembly that the DF Government would set up a development authority for four Maoist-hit districts of eastern Maharashtra to remove hurdles impeding the development work there.
In his intervention during the Question Hour that saw the Opposition members stage a protest against the State Government for reneging on its earlier assurance to the House, the Chief Minister said that the DF dispensation would go ahead and set up a development authority for the Naxalite-infested districts of Gadchiroli, Gondia, Chandrapur and Bhandara in eastern Maharashtra.
Chavan’s intervention came after the Opposition members raised slogans against the Maharashtra Government over his deputy and Minister of State for Planning Rajendra Mulak’s statement that the State administration was facing certain problems in setting such a development authority for four Maoist-hit districts in eastern Maharashtra.
Earlier, taking serious exception to Mulkak’s statement, senior BJP MlA Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the State Government had in the past assured the House that it would set up such a separate development authority for Gadchiroli, Gondia, Chandrapur and Bhandara districts. He wondered as to why the State Government was dithering on fulfilling its assurance to the House.
leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse of the BJP said that the State Government should set up such a development authority for the Maoist-hit districts without any further delay.
Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil said the State Government should honour the sentiments expressed by the legislators.
later, responding to a query by Congress MlA Namdev Usendi, the Chief Minister announced that the State Government would set up a development authority for Naxalite-infested districts. He, however, did not spell out the derails.