Two-day state Cabinet meet begins

Aurangabad, (Maharashtra) Oct 24:The two-day Cabinet meeting began here at the divisional commissionerate on a positive note directed at the development of the Marathwada region.

According to official sources, the administration has received proposals to the tune of Rs 4500 crore of which proposals worth Rs 1700 crore were being discussed at the two-day meet. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will announce the Cabinet decisions at a briefing tomorrow.

This time around, the Public Works Department (PWD) has prepared proposals worth Rs 1200 crore and the department is expected to get a nod for the Mumbai-Nashik-Yeola-Aurangabad to Nagpur four-lane express highway.

Twenty-six Cabinet ministers, 13 ministers of state and about 50 secretary rank officials have made it to the city for the meeting.

The two-day Cabinet meeting faced very less number of ''morchas'' compared to the previous year, when the Cabinet had witnessed at least 300 representations. Presently, the police have so far received communication about five hunger strikes, dharna (three), demonstrations (four), morchas 13 and memoranda (49).

Meanwhile, Lok Vikas Manch and three universities in the region had organized ''Vision Marathwada'' meeting yesterday to identify neglected areas and press the government to pay more attention to these areas. The meeting was attended among others by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, Finance Minister Jayant Patil, Forest Minister Babanrao Pachpute, Cooperation Minister Patangrao Kadam and BJP national general secretary Gopinath Munde.

The speakers, including the ministers, agreed that the Marathwada region had remained backward and neglected for a long time. They also stressed the need for strengthening the infrastructure, which would boost the process of development in the region.

UNI