Maharashtra civic polls: Directly elected chiefs of municipal councils, nagar panchayats to have voting rights

The Act will also entitle the elected presidents to cast one vote as a member, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said. 

It also mentions that, in the event of a tie during voting, the president will exercise a casting vote, PTI reported. 

This decision, taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, aims to recognise the public mandate received by directly elected presidents and to strengthen their role in municipal governance.

Furthermore, the cabinet also approved the free allocation of one acre of land belonging to the dairy development.

The statement also said that where a government milk-chilling centre is situated, it will be handed over to the Dharashiv Municipal Council for the purpose, PTI reported. 

Also, this decision was taken in response to a long-standing demand from public representatives and social organisations.

Furthermore, the cabinet has also approved the grant of powers to divisional commissioners to regularise the services of 291 nurses, who are either working on bonds or retired, under the zilla parishad health departments, PTI reported.

These nurses were earlier appointed for a fixed period after completing training from government nursing colleges and were subsequently given short-term appointments based on local requirements.

However, the authority of divisional commissioners to regularise such appointments was withdrawn in 2018, the statement added.

Under the latest decision, the services of bonded nurses appointed before April 15, 2015, including those currently in service as well as those who have retired, will now be regularised.

Among other decisions, the cabinet gave the green light to the District Karmayogi Programme 2.0 and the Sarpanch Samvad Programme to strengthen the functioning of village, taluka, and district-level administration. Both the programmes will be implemented through the Mitra organisation.

District Karmayogi 2.0

District Karmayogi 2.0 will focus on training officers and staff working at the grassroots, including agriculture officers, engineers, gram sevaks, talathis, agriculture assistants, health workers, irrigation inspectors, and statistical officers.

Around 85,000 officers and employees across Maharashtra will be trained under the programme to improve service delivery and administrative efficiency.

The initiative will also focus on addressing local issues faced by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), industrial units, and farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), while improving government-to-business (G2B) services at the district level.

(With inputs from PTI)

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