Even before SC gives it verdict, Fadnavis takes charge as CM

Mumbai: Even before the Supreme Court gives its decision on the political crisis in the state, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took charge as the CM in Mantralaya on Monday. After taking charge, he sanctioned Rs 5,380 crore from the state contingency fund to provide relief to farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

The decision to sanction Rs 5,380 crore for rain-affected farmers came in the wake of a meeting between Mr Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday evening. Both the leaders had discussed various measures for providing additional assistance to the farmers affected by unseasonal rains. However, Mr Pawar was conspicuous by his absence in the meeting.

The state government earlier this month had approved Rs 10,000 crore as a special provision to provide immediate assistance to farmers affected by unseasonal rains. Crops like jowar, paddy, cotton, maize, tur and soyabean on 54.22 lakh hectares spread across 325 talukas in 10-12 districts have been damaged across the state.

The CM also chaired a meeting to discuss proposed ‘climate resilience improvement and flood & drought management programme’ with representatives from the World Bank. This program includes diversion of floodwater to drought prone area.

“All technical modalities got discussed in this meeting. World Bank will spend Rs 3,500 crore on this project out of which Rs 350 crore is for technical assistance (sic),” the CM
tweeted.

Discussions also took place on #SmartVillage project for 20 lakh farmers in 10,000 villages, he said.

The first signature of Mr Fadnavis’ tenure was to provide aid to a woman patient for her cancer treatment from the CM relief fund. He signed the cheque of Rs 1.20 lakh for Kusum Vengurlekar from Dadar. Ms Vengurlekar is getting treated for cancer in Dhanvantari Hospital under the chief minister medical assistance fund.

Mr Fadnavis was sworn-in as the chief minister in a hush hush ceremony on Saturday.