During his two-day visit to New Delhi, the CM met top Union Ministers. He aimed to secure Central government-approvals and financial aid for various state projects during the meetings and also presented the five major projects of his govt to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently concluded a series of high-level meetings in New Delhi over two days, aiming to secure Central government approvals and financial assistance for a wide array of state projects, reported PTI.
During his visit, CM Fadnavis met with several prominent Union Ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers JP Nadda, and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He also held discussions with NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer BVR Subrahmanyam and member Rajiv Gauba, among others.
A statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Friday, sharing more details on the meeting with Sitharaman, said that Fadnavis presented his govt five major projects. For these projects, Maharashtra is seeking assistance from global financial institutions, with a total proposed funding around 3.5 billion dollars.
Additionally, the state has requested 1 billion dollars for constructing cement roads in villages with populations over 1,000 and 500 million dollars each for coastal erosion prevention and for municipal wastewater treatment and to reuse it. Furthermore, the funding for two projects from the World Bank was also discussed.
During his meeting with Nadda, Fadnavis discussed a proposed fertiliser manufacturing plant in Nagpur district. This 12.7-lakh-tonne-capacity project is envisioned as a joint venture involving GAIL, the Department of Fertilisers, and the Maharashtra government. The state has sought a subsidy and central support for this project of around Rs 10,000 crore.
Fadnavis also met with Agriculture Minister Chouhan to advocate for a Rs 22,490 crore ($2.6 billion) project. This initiative aims to build 14,000 km of cement roads in rural areas, designed to be maintenance-free for 25 years, and seeks assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
Chouhan commended Maharashtra for its swift progress in conducting surveys under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, with over 30 lakh homes sanctioned for the state, the CMO statement said.
Meanwhile, the discussions with the NITI Aayog centred on several technology-driven and sustainable initiatives. These initiative included AI-based non-communicable disease (NCD) screening, a Rs 4,300 crore bamboo-based industrial cluster, the Marathwada Water Grid, the Daman Ganga-Godavari river-linking project, and skill development initiatives connecting Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) with private industry, reported PTI.
NITI Aayog officials praised Maharashtra's fiscal prudence, noting its adherence to an FRBM limit of 18 per cent against the permitted 25 per cent, and assured expedited clearances for these key projects.
Meanwhile, the CM meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were described as courtesy calls, where ongoing Central collaborations related to Maharashtra were discussed.
(With inputs from PTI)
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