Cabinet was kept out of the picture on mill-land sale

According to a senior BJP Minister, the proposals of two units – Modern and New Great Eastern Spinning and Weaving Mills – were placed before the special cabinet meeting held at Ratnagiri on June 10. As there were serious differences over the crucial proposal, the cabinet then empowered Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister to take a final decision and inform the cabinet accordingly.

“That meeting, however, authorised Joshi and Munde to take a decision and place it before the cabinet for ratification at the next meeting,” said the minister. But when the decision was taken, it was not the cabinet which was informed first. Instead, the decision was communicated to BMC and the respective mills on June 20. Only the next day, was it brought before the cabinet for ratification. A senior Shiv Sena Minister endorsed the views expressed by the BJP minister. “I feel that there was no hurry. Joshi and Munde should have briefed the cabinet first on the crucial decision,” he said. Chief Secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar, however, claimed that the decision taken by Joshi and Munde was ratified by the cabinet at its meeting on June 21, a day after it was communicated to the two mills and the BMC. “It was not a unilateral decision of the CM. The government had no alternative but to clear the two proposals because of the BIFR’s ultimatum." He also confirmed that the government will have to approve the revival schemes of Vinod, Matulya, Raghuwanshi, Shriram and Kamla mills .

“Without waiting for the deadline set by the BIFR, I will place all the pending proposals before the cabinet for approval,” he added.