CM Devendra Fadnavis’s maiden move is anti-graft

Fadnavis said he would distribute portfolios Saturday. There is buzz he could retain the key Home portfolio.

On October 28, The Indian Express had highlighted how the erstwhile Prithviraj Chavan-led Congress- NCP government sat on 76 cases of graft involving top officials and former ministers from the two parties.

Earlier, in May this year, the ACB had approached the government for withdrawal of the norm for prior government permission.

Meanwhile, the new cabinet, which met for the first time after the swearing-in ceremony Friday, decided to introduce the “Right to Service Act” in Maharashtra. On the lines of Centre’s Public Service Delivery Act, the legislation is meant to be a tool guaranteeing time-bound delivery of services to citizens. “It will be applicable to all state and municipal departments and would provide a legal recourse to citizens in case services due to them are not delivered. All government and civic departments would be asked to draft a Citizens’ Charter and conform to it,” Fadnavis later said.

The Cabinet also decided to appoint a committee under state’s Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya to draft the legislation.

Newly inducted minister Sudhir Mungantiwar asked the administration to ensure that a report is tabled within one month. Fadnavis later said his government would try to table the legislation during the winter session of state Assembly. The legislation was a part of BJP’s manifesto.

Citing Maharashtra’s tight fiscal position, Fadnavis also indicated that his government would roll back some of the assurances made by the erstwhile regime in the run-up to elections. “The government will have to borrow Rs 52,000 crore to implement all these assurances, some of which are non-starters,” he said.

The cabinet will meet again Saturday.

The new government is also keen on replacing the contentious local body tax (LBT) and octroi with a new policy. Speaking on Doordardhan later in the evening, Fadnavis said, “There has been a lot of protest against LBT. It should be abolished.” Speaking on the toll policy he said, “ Imposing toll tax on smaller roads and bylanes is not justified. The previous government was also planning to bring new toll policy. Now, we will have to see whether we should get rid of toll tax or have an alternative policy that would ensure revenue generation but not hassle people.”

CM picks his secy Pravin Darade, an IAS officer who once headed that Nagpur Improvement Trust, will move in with Fadnavis as a secretary in the CM’s office. Fadnavis confirmed the decision. The BJP government is expected to go in for a major bureaucratic reshuffle.

Ashok Chavan’s ‘blind faith’ jibe

Taking a jibe at the BJP for the presence of religious gurus on the stage for the oath-taking ceremony, former Congress CM Ashok Chavan questioned “if this was not being superstitious.” He reminded that the BJP had attacked him during his CM stint, when Sathya Sai Baba visited his home. Fadnavis, however, responded by saying that the BJP was against blind faith. “There is nothing wrong in having faith.” Fadnavis also justified the grand oath-taking event saying people who voted for the BJP wanted to participate in the swearing in.