Mumbai: As the Maharashtra assembly elections will be announced by the Election Commission of India any time now, the government is holding back-to-back cabinet meetings. Every meeting, 20 to 80 decisions are been taken and massive projects and schemes are been announced to woo the voters before the code of conduct kicks in.
"The Mahayuti is announcing so many schemes, that they have now allotted Rs 23 crore budget to convey the cabinet decision to the citizens via SMS," said NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar. "If they had time, they would draw a scheme for invitations for their family functions too," he said slamming the Mahyuti's projects.
"At a time when the government owes Rs 40,000 to the contractors, they have been awarding bigger contracts. Seeing the state’s financial condition, the new contractors are hesitant to come on board," the NCP (SP) leader and MLA from Karjar-Jamkhed Rohit Pawar (39) said during his dialogue with The Free Press Journal ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections.
Speaking over state's economic condition, Pawar said, "The government has now made the PWD almost jobless by creating a new entity, the Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Company (MSIDC), and clubbing it with district road works, which was earlier taken care of at the local level. Road works to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore have been allocated to the cartels of contractors," he alleged.
“It is a very serious situation in Maharashtra that despite awarding contracts, the works are unable to commence because of financial restraints. There are no funds to grant scholarships and implement schemes. The government goes on announcing schemes without checking the ground reality,” Pawar said.
Speaking on the recent Pune gangrape case, Rohit Pawar highlighted that the economic issues in the state are been converted into frustration and rising crimes. "The issues at the core need to be addressed. The police are overloaded with work and there are no new recruitments to fill vacant posts. There is inefficiency because of the lack of workforce. We need to study socio-economic angles to make new policies," Pawar said.
The young leader stressed that the increased accountability is the need of the hour.
Rohit Pawar also said that it is high time the Mahayuti government needs to be removed. If we opposition does not counter now, by 2029 the people of Maharashtra will take charge in their hands.
