For Fadnavis, Modi model is template for Maharashtra

The CM is confident that the bureaucracy would respond positively. “What we have understood, I and my colleagues in the Cabinet, is that we need to perform or we will perish,” Fadnavis said.

Also on his agenda: Cleaning up the state’s finances with a rollback of some announcements made by the previous government, focussing on institution-building, and enforcing zero political interference in the functioning of the police force, especially in recruitments and transfers.

The Maharashtra CM drew another parallel with the NDA government when asked about his top-heavy Cabinet. And sources later indicated that like Modi, Fadnavis was also unlikely to undertake a major reshuffle in the bureaucracy anytime soon, preferring instead to give officials time to adapt to the new work regime.

Speaking at length during the session, Fadnavis said there was an urgent need to improve the ease of doing business in Maharashtra. Anybody setting up a new industry in the state currently requires anywhere between 76 and 91 separate approvals, a process that Fadnavis admitted takes up to two years.

In the interaction held just hours after his first Cabinet meeting, the newly inducted Chief Minister said the “e-window system” would be launched soon to ensure speedy approvals to set up industry. “I want to reduce this (the number of approvals) drastically — not from just 76 to 61 or so,” he said. The e-window system will also ensure accountability from various departments, he said, adding that he had instructed the Industries Department to work on this earlier in the day.

Fadnavis said that his governance model would be policy-driven, not personality-centric. And when asked about his RSS background, he was emphatic in saying that the sangh would not influence any of his decisions. “The RSS is independent of politics. The RSS will neither advise me nor seek to influence government,” he said.

Replying to another question about a group of RSS-linked historians seeking a more elaborate mention of Shivaji in NCERT textbooks, Fadnavis said there was only one paragraph on the Maratha warrior king in these books. “I don’t see such a dialogue with the government as wrong,” he said.

Seeking to dispel any notion that his government would not be inclusive, Fadnavis said he would empower the minorities commission significantly. “The previous government used the minorities only as a votebank. We do not believe in appeasement politics. We believe in justice for all,” he said.

Fadnavis also spoke about the finances of the state, currently facing a debt of over Rs 3.1 lakh crore. Implementing the previous regime’s programmes would entail a Rs 26,000 crore revenue deficit, he said, adding that much of this projected deficit is on account of “non-starter” schemes that would now be reviewed and rolled back. “Some steps can bring it down to Rs 4000 crore,” he said.

While he refrained from elaborating on the schemes of the Prithviraj Chavan government that he plans to axe, Fadnavis assured that his government would bear the Rs 10,000 crore bill from the waiver of electricity bills for agricultural pumps.

“More worrying than the farm subsidy is the Rs 760 crore we pay every month as industrial power subsidy,” he said. Broader solutions, including improving plant load factor at power plants to reduce the cost of power generation and distribution, use of solar pumps, etc., need to be looked at instead of just removing subsidies, he indicated.

Criticising the Congress-NCP government’s handling of the state’s finances over 15 years, he said, “There appears to have been no fiscal planning at all.”

The Chief Minister also ruled out a tussle between those building the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the banks of the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and the one of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji proposed to be built off the Mumbai coast.

“The Shivaji statue will be the tallest,” Fadnavis said, when asked whether there could be a rift between the two BJP chief ministers of the neighbouring states over this. “Modiji does not need to be convinced about this. He is a follower of Shivaji,” he said, adding that the Shivaji statue project will be fast-tracked. “The previous government only promised it, we will execute it.”

On the issue of corruption, the CM said he has had to slightly modify his thinking on the proposal to do away with the need for government sanction before the Anti-Corruption Bureau can move against government officers and ministers.

Fadnavis said he will now push for a “deemed sanction” system wherein an “open inquiry” may proceed if the government does not respond to the ACB’s request within a stipulated time period – the current norm is 90 days.

”All infra projects in Mumbai overdue”

* On the Mumbai makeover: “All infrastructure projects in Mumbai are overdue. We have to build all of them… I am discussing environmental clearances for projects including Mumbai Trans Harbour Sea Link with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in the next two days.”

* On repeated FSI hikes by the previous regime: “Increasing FSI is not bad by itself, it is a tool especially for a city like Mumbai, but there should be a policy on it. We shouldn’t give extra FSI for individual cases.”

* On the high fees in private schools and colleges: “A comprehensive fee regulatory authority for colleges will be formed.”

* On making Maharashtra toll-free: “I had drafted a plan to make the state toll free, but experts told me this will affect the pace of road development. There is no alternative to toll. But we will resurvey traffic on major toll roads.”

* On criticism that he doesn’t possess political acumen: “I don’t need to counter criticism. In a year’s time, either they will speak the truth or you will stop listening to them.”

* On the opposition to a nuclear plant in Jaitapur. “Nuclear power is a must, there is no option but to go for it. The fears of Jaitapur’s locals will be tackled well.”

* On a Muslim face in his Cabinet: “Wait for the next expansion.”

* On empowering Lokayukta: “Nobody even knows who the Lokayukta is right now. It is a powerless institution. We will empower it.”

* On Maharashtra’s droughts: “Rs 50,000 crore is needed to drought-proof Maharashtra — Rs 2 crore for each of 25,000 villages. We will seek Central funding.”