Deshmukh finally gets down to work

MUMBAI, Nov 24: More than a month after his swearing-in, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will now get down to real administration and bu...

MUMBAI, Nov 24: More than a month after his swearing-in, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will now get down to real administration and business.

Deshmukh has convened a special two-day Cabinet meeting on December 1 and 2 to chalk out department-wise plans and draft the common minimum programme as envisaged by the Democratic Front Government.

On the first day, departments of water conservation, irrigation, public works, housing, transport and excise will be discussed, while the second day will be devoted to tribal and social welfare, dairy development, fisheries, energy, school education, higher and technical education and revenue. In addition, there will be a special session on resource mobilisation.

Irrigation, public works, housing and energy departments have been specifically asked to prepare a status report on the ongoing as well as completed projects during the erstwhile Sena-BJP rule.

The Cabinet will particularly discuss the progress of the irrigation schemes under the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, private sector participation in the public works department and progress of the mass housing scheme in the metropolis.

According to a senior Minister, ever since his installation as Chief Minister, by and large, Deshmukh was busy in pacifying agitated partners of the Democratic Front or reversing the decisions taken by the erstwhile Sena-BJP rule and as such he had very little time to take measures for improving the financial position or administration.

The erstwhile alliance government had raised bonds to implement the Rs 11,000 crore irrigation projects under the Krishna Valley scheme in a time-bound period as prescribed by the Bachawat Award on utilisation of Krishna waters. 8220;So far, the department has spent Rs 4,000 crore on the ongoing projects, while another Rs 7,000 crore will have to be raised if complete utilisation of allotted share of water is to be used before the deadline set by the award. The new government will have to take a decision on raising of funds for the projects,8221; a senior official said.

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On the public works department, the official said the Sena-BJP government had set up the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation to implement the multi-crore projects through private sector participation. 8220;Besides the Mumbai-Pune expressway, the corporation is implementing the Rs 1,500 crore flyover projects in the metropolis,8221; the official said, adding, though the flyovers are in different stages of completion, the new PWD Minister has questioned the necessity of such a large number of flyovers.

The Cabinet will also review the fresh agreement signed with the Dabhol Power Company. 8220;Apparently, the government feels that the permission for the second phase was granted in a hurry and in the ultimate process, the consumers will be put to heavy loss owing to higher power tariff,8221; the official pointed out.

When Sharad Pawar was at the helm of affairs, he had conducted a three-day Cabinet meeting to review the performance of departments. During the tenure of Manohar Joshi, though a special Cabinet was not convened, on occasions, the performance of either certain departments or state-run enterprises was reviewed.