Kartik Lokhande's blog

Staff Reporter Girish Vyas, State Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was elected unopposed to Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur Local Authorities’ Constituency. His elected was declared by the administration, after both the Congress candidates bowed out of the race on Saturday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations. Initially, there were six candidates in the fray for the seat. These included independent candidates Suresh Paunikar and Nitin Rai, Congress candidates Ashok Singh Chauhan and Sanjay Mahakalkar, and BJP candidates Girish Vyas and Pravin Datke, Mayor. There was supposedly a contest between Girish Vyas and Ashok Singh Chauhan as both were official candidates. However, on Saturday, as all the other candidates withdrew from the fray and only Girish Vyas of BJP remained, he was declared as elected unopposed. Sachin Kurve, District Collector and Election Officer, handed over the certificate of election to Vyas.  Nitin Gadkari, Unio...

Staff Reporter Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Finance and Planning, strongly defended the supplementary demands of Rs 16,094 crore tabled before State Legislature. He said that the demands, which will be passed after discussion in next two days, were higher as the BJP-Shiv Sena Government was committed to providing relief to farmers affected by drought. When it was pointed out that the supplementary demands presented on Tuesday were a record for winter session, Kesarkar said, “The previous Congress-NCP Government had presented the highest supplementary demands of Rs 20,000 crore during monsoon session of 2014. However, they did it keeping an eye on ensuing Legislative Assembly elections. And, we have presented supplementary demands of Rs 16,094 crore to provide relief to farmers. There is a difference.” Talking to reporters at his Ravi Bhavan cottage on Tuesday evening, Kesarkar said that supplementary demands this time included Rs 9,374 crore of non-plan expend...

By Kartik Lokhande  They are from diverse backgrounds and different locations across Maharashtra, have varied interests. Four months ago, they joined the internship programme with mixed feelings -- different perception and curiosity about the Government functioning. With seven months remaining to complete the internship, they are a group of youngsters motivated to join the administrative services in Government domain. They are the ones chosen for the first batch of 11-month internship programme launched by none other than Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Fadnavis had floated the idea of appointing the interns from among screened youngsters and attaching them to work with various establishments including Chief Minister’s Office, Chief Minister’s War Room for projects, different Collector offices, and other agencies. Fadnavis had said some time ago, that the youths full of innovative ideas could help the Government in b...

* The project may be included in Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government has proposed an allocation of Rs 350 crore in supplementary demands tabled before State Legislature on Tuesday. The allocation has been made to put the project’s remaining work on fast track. Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Finance and Planning, said that Rs 350 crore was an additional provision made for Gosikhurd national project. As per the document detailing supplementary demands, the additional provision would be made available to Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC). It may be mentioned here that the project was conceptualised more than 27 years ago but it is yet to be completed. The main reason for delay in completion of this project being inadequate financial allocations, issues pertaining to forest clearances, escalation of cost over the years, etc. The mega-irrigation project has got the status of a national project. For some time, it a...

* Rs 4,002.82 cr has been proposed for drought relief, and more amount for related expenditures Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government, on Tuesday, tabled supplementary demands of a record-breaking Rs 16,094 crore for approval before both the Houses of State Legislature. As had been hinted by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a substantial part of the supplementary demands has been proposed to provide relief to drought-affected farmers in the State. The supplementary demands tabled this time have broken the record of Rs 11,695 crore worth of demands presented by the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party led Democratic Front Government in the winter session of 2013. This time, the BJP-Shiv Sena led Government has surpassed that figure, and has tabled supplementary demands of a whopping Rs 1,60,94,14,83,000 that is a new record as far as supplementary demands tabled during winter session of State Legislature are concerned. Now, these supplementary demands will come...

Staff Reporter A committee appointed to look into measures required for removal of backlog of Vidarbha region in co-operatives sector, submitted its report with recommendations to Chandrakant Patil, Co-operation Minister, on Monday. After watching a presentation on three-volume report, Patil said that it would help in removal of Vidarbha’s backlog in co-operatives sector. The Government had appointed a committee under Richa Bagla, Director (Textiles). Bagla submitted the report to Patil in a meeting held at Ravi Bhavan here. In its report, the committee has stated that there is potential for 72 co-operative spinning mills in Vidarbha, and has made several recommendations for growth of textile sector in the region. Some of the major recommendations are as follows: setting up Price Stabilisation Fund, interest-free loan to beleaguered District Central Co-operative Banks, increasing interest refund by three per cent, setting up soyabean and orange processing industries, st...

* Drought Relief Committees to be formed at block, district, State level By Kartik Lokhande  Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Monday, asked the legislators of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reach out to people and play active role in ensuring proper and effective implementation of various drought relief measures announced by the Government. He also asked them to stand united in State Legislature to face the Opposition firmly. “Other parties are resorting to symbolism against us. We are better placed and our Government is doing good job. We need not get disturbed by allegations levelled by the Opposition, or the anger and angst expressed by the people. For, we are in public life. Instead of focussing on other things, let us all concentrate on continuing with good work and reaching out to people in distress in drought-affected areas of State,” Fadnavis said. He was addressing the BJP legislators in BJP Legislature Party meeting held at the party hall in Vidhan Bha...