Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sets up war room to monitor progress of flagship schemes

While Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi members took potshots at each other in the Legislative Assembly on Monday and Governor C P Radhakrishnan presented the new governmentrsquos vision in his joint address to the legislature Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged top bureaucrats not to be complacent thinking that Maharashtra was a state with unlimited strengthDevendra Fadnavis chief ministerWe are a number one state but that does not mean that you bureaucrats should stoprdquo the chief minister said adding that though they had done well in the past they should do even better in the future The new CM called on all departments to chart out a 100day programme to make state services available to the people by using modern technology while carrying out administrative workWar roomsFadnavis announced plans to set up a dedicated war room for the statersquos flagship schemes It was the first joint meeting of the CM with the officers of the ranks of additional chief secretary principal secretary and secretary These officers spearhead state policies Fadnavis advised the babus to be transparent sincere and expeditious He said that bureaucrats should use the Centrersquos cooperation to ensure the statersquos development To enhance coordination and followup with the Union government the CM directed that a system be created in Delhirsquos Maharashtra SadanMaharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Neelam Gorhe welcomes Governor C P Radhakrishnan as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis looks on at Vidhan Bhavan on Monday PicSayyed Sameer AbediFadnavis said the existing war room which monitors basic infrastructural projects should be more effective and efficient He wanted the chief secretary to restructure it Similarly a second war room will be exclusively created for the state and Central governmentsrsquo flagship projects This war room will ensure that the benefits reach the last end without any delay He suggested holding janata darbars and Lokshahi Divas programmes to reach out to the people Bureaucrats appointed as district guardians were asked to extend benefits to the areas overseen by them He initiated a reward scheme for the bestperforming divisions He said the best would be honoured at the Cabinet meetingsEase of livingFadnavis insisted on lsquoease of livingrsquo for those who frequent the government offices to avail themselves of various services According to him all government portals should be used to their full capacity so that the people get services without venturing out He also asked the bureaucrats to make the departmental portals lsquoRight to InformationfriendlyrsquoC P Radhakrishnan Maharashtra governorHe floated an idea to split the programme into two phases of six months each and suggested exploring the possibility of using the services of retired bureaucrats Other than peoplersquos complaints the CM asked departmental secretaries to prioritise addressing the grievances of government employees He wanted the freshers to be trained before posting them in particular officesGovernor speakAddressing a joint meeting of legislature Governor Radhakrishnan said Maharashtra contributed more than 14 per cent to the countryrsquos total GDP and it was is a preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment ldquoMy government has set a very ambitious target of making Maharashtra the first state in the country to achieve the target of becoming a trilliondollar economy by the year 202728rdquo he addedHe said a policy of giving anchor industry status to megaprojects such as semiconductors electric vehicles aerospace and defence chemicals and polymers lithium ion batteries steel and other products would attract a total investment of approximately R329000 crore and it would generate direct and indirect employment for 118000 peopleAs per the Information Technology and Information Technology Supported Services Policy 2023 and the Green Data Centre Policy Mumbai will be made the data centre capital of India ldquoGreen Integrated Data Centre Park will be set up in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai which will lead to an approximately R1 lakh crore investment and generate the employment for 20000rdquo the governor saidWinter sessionThe special session in which the MLAs took oath and the Fadnavis government completed a formality of proving its majority was adjourned on Monday The government will now move to Nagpur later this week for the winter session of the legislature to be held from December 16 It will most likely be a weeklong event