Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday announced that the state will set up a development authority on the lines of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for Naxal-affected districts of the state. The decision was taken to tackle the hurdles and delays that are faced in the development work of these areas. The CM announced this while answering a query in the state Assembly on the first day of the Monsoon Session.
Congress MLA Namdeo Usendi, who belongs to the Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district, raised the issue during the question hour. Mr Usendi said that every proposal regarding development work needed to be sent back to Mumbai for approval, which resulted in too much delay. “To expedite the development work in these areas, a separate development authority is the need of the hour,” Mr Usendi said.
Earlier, minister of state Rajendra Mulak had expressed his inability in setting up such an authority citing various problems. “Due to various issues involved in the process, in the month of March, the government has decided that there is no need to form any such authority,” Mr Mulak had said.
Reacting to this, BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar reminded that the state government had assured the setting up of such an authority long before and questioned the decision. Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse also expressed his discontent over the bureaucrats’ attitude and demanded the immediate setting up of the authority.
Eventually, Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil intervened and asked the chief minister to address the issue. He asserted that the government should honour the feelings of the legislators. Responding to his request, chief minister said that though there are many problems in the passage of such an authority, the government would set up the development authority for Naxal-hit districts.
In Maharashtra, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Chandrapur and Bhandara districts are extensively affected due to Naxalism.