Maharashtra: Ahead of polls, Prithviraj Chavan lists out development work in Congress-NCP tenure

Asserting that the Congress-NCP coalition had worked tirelessly for all inclusive development of the state in the last 15 years, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday expressed confidence that people would once again repose faith in them for the next five years.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on the motion of thanking the Governor K Sankaranarayanan for his address to the joint session of both houses in February this year, Chavan said the Congress-NCP government had formulated and executed policies which the previous Sena-BJP government did not even think of. This is the government's last legislature session as the state goes to polls later this year.

A four-day session was held in February this year before the Lok Sabha polls and the interim budget was tabled. He also said the change of guard will not affect the state government's efforts to get maximum central funds for state's development. "In the last 15 years, we got good support from the Centre and we hope it would continue in the next five years as well," he said.

Chavan admitted industrial and agricultural production was affected slightly because the state had faced natural calamities like drought, floods and hailstorm in the last two years. The state government spent more than Rs 9,000 crore towards various relief packages for farmers,he said. "The compensation was directly deposited in the bank accounts of beneficiaries. Never before a state government had gone all out to help the agriculture community battling natural disasters," he added.

Chavan said the state was financial sound and per capita income had crossed Rs one lakh. "All round industrial development in the state was a challenge and the government had accepted it," he said adding that the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, Mihan project were some of the big projects expected to usher in industrial boom in the state. According to the Chief Minister, his priorities were ensuring there is no scarcity of water, fodder in drought situations and bringing industrial development in backward areas.

He said the irrigation potential of the state was 18 per cent, which was low compared to other states and this is due to nature and climatic conditions.