Maharashtra govt sanctions Rs 60,000 crore for drought-prone Marathwada region

With the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls round the corner, the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government in Maharashtra on Saturday sanctioned projects and developmental initiatives to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore for the drought-prone Marathwada region.

The decisions were taken at a special Cabinet meeting held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, previously known as Aurangabad - on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Marathwada Liberation Day, also known as Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din.

The Marathwada region was liberated on September 17, 1948, from the Nizam Rule.

Post the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, announced the measures.

“The meeting has announced schemes, projects and development initiatives to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore. Besides, revised administrative sanctions for irrigation projects worth Rs 14,000 crore and more than eight lakh hectares of land under irrigation. In total, it is a package of around Rs 60,000 crore,” said Shinde after the marathon meeting.

Spread over 64,590 sq km, the Marathwada region or the Aurangabad division comprises eight districts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad), Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani and Dharashiv (earlier Osmanabad).

Fadnavis provided the details of the works completed - which were sanctioned in the October 4, 2016 Cabinet meeting in Aurangabad - as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi questioned the Shinde dispensation on the issue. “Of the 31 projects sanctioned, 23 have been completed, seven are currently under way while one was scrapped by the previous government,” he said, hitting out at the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA.

Meanwhile, CM Shinde rubbished the allegations levelled by Opposition parties that they were staying in five-star hotels in the city for the Cabinet meeting. "All of us are staying in the government guest house," he said.