Shinde summons state MPs, few attend

An engineer-turned-politician, Subodh Mohite, feels the meeting failed to click as there was complete lack of communication between the MPs and the Democratic Front government.

Be it the multi-crore Enron power project issue or the resource crunch, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra were kept in the dark by the government, he said.

In case of Enron, Mohite said the note circulated by the government was ‘‘wrong’’ since it was based on incorrect projections on power requirements, particularly the peak-hour demand.

He recommended the setting up of a special task force of state MPs to take up pending projects with the Centre to which Shinde readily agreed.

Rajya Sabha member Murli Deora and Shiv Sena’s Mohan Rawale also made concrete suggestions on the financial crisis, as well as problems faced by the crisis-ridden textile sector, particularly the sick and closed mills in the metropolis.

In his brief speech, the Chief Minister urged the MPs to impress upon the Centre to permit the state to raise Rs 1,800 crore from the open market to tackle the unprecedented financial crisis.