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

CM Devendra Fadnavis welcomes Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Vidhan Bhavan, on Monday. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

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 government's 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 strength.

Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister

We are a number one state, but that does not mean that you [bureaucrats] should stop," 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 100-day programme to make state services available to the people by using modern technology while carrying out administrative work.

War rooms

Fadnavis announced plans to set up a dedicated war room for the state's 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 Centre's cooperation to ensure the state's development. To enhance coordination and follow-up with the Union government, the CM directed that a system be created in Delhi's Maharashtra Sadan.

Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Neelam Gorhe welcomes Governor C P Radhakrishnan as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis looks on at Vidhan Bhavan on Monday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Fadnavis 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 governments' 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 best-performing divisions. He said the best would be honoured at the Cabinet meetings.

Ease of living

Fadnavis insisted on ‘ease of living' 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 ‘Right to Information-friendly'.

C P Radhakrishnan, Maharashtra governor

He 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 people's 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 offices.

Governor speak

Addressing a joint meeting of legislature, Governor Radhakrishnan, said Maharashtra contributed more than 14 per cent to the country's total GDP and it was is a preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment. "My government has set a very ambitious target of making Maharashtra the first state in the country to achieve the target of becoming a trillion-dollar economy by the year 2027-28," he added.

He said a policy of giving anchor industry status to mega-projects 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 R3,29,000 crore and it would generate direct and indirect employment for 1,18,000 people.

As 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. "Green 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 20,000," the governor said.

Winter session

The 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 week-long event.