‘State to grant funds to Vid, Marathwada’ | Nagpur News – Times of India

Nagpur: While reiterating the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s assurance on reconstitution of statutory development boards for Vidarbha and Marathwada, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Monday declared that they would grant extra funds to both the regions.
On the opening day of budget session in Mumbai, Pawar dropped a googly on opposition members’ claims about the government’s failure to reconstitute boards for nearly a year. He stated that they would act immediately after governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari approved names of 12 MLCs from his quota, which were forwarded to him by the MVA.
“Our government is committed to the formation of boards and developing both the regions. We will provide the funds as earlier earmarked by the boards when in existence. The government wouldn’t spare any official if found to be withholding funds for these regions,” he said
Pawar, also the finance minister, was replying to the issue raised by his predecessor Sudhir Mungantiwar, who reminded the government of its promise made in the winter session last year for reconstitution of boards. The latter said the people from both backward regions were keen to know when the MVA government would fulfil its promises.
Flaying Pawar’s statement on appointment of 12 legislators from the governor’s quota, leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis reminded him that it was an issue between the government and governor and citizens from both regions had nothing to do with the issue. He said reconstitution of both the boards was a right of the people and not any favour from the government.
The three statutory development boards, including for the rest of Maharashtra, were first constituted on April 30, 1994, to remove the regional imbalance. However, the MVA government failed to reconstitute it last year after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the country and since then, the issue was pending. Nearly, 70-80 BJP MLAs had written to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray demanding an extension to the boards to ensure development of backward regions.