Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday assured that his government would find ways to clear the financial backlog of Vidarbha and Marathwada regions after the Dr Vijay Kelkar committee submits its report. “The committee report will be discussed across the state and ways and means would be found to remove the backlog of Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, taking into consideration its recommendations,” Mr Chavan said at the inauguration of an exhibition and a symposium to mark former chief minister Vasantrao Naik’s birth centenary. The Dr Kelkar committee report is expected in a month’s time, Mr Chavan added. The committee was formed to take a fresh look at regional imbalances and would measure the physical and financial backlogs of the different regions. At the inauguration, as soon as Mr Chavan started his speech, a pro-Vidarbha activist stood up and started shouting slogans, demanding creation of a separate Vidarbha state. The activist, Balasaheb Korate, president of the Mawala Sanghatana, also drew Mr Chavan’s attention towards the issue of farmer suicides. During his speech, Mr Chavan expressed concern over the industrial backlog in Vidarbha and assured that the region would be given its pride of place in the new industrial policy of the state. He also emphasised the need to strengthen the cooperative movement in Vidarbha, and expressed hope that the amendments made to the Maharashtra Cooperatives Act would help rejuvenate it. Mr Chavan underlined the need for water management saying that the state would insist on the use of drip irrigation by the sugarcane growers in the state. “When 82 per cent of the farmers in the state are demanding water for irrigation, we cannot allow sugarcane growers alone to use huge quantities of water for their crop. People have the right over water and its just distribution is a must,” he said.
