Will not allow government to go without giving substantial package to Vidarbha, Marathwada: Nana Patole

NAGPUR: The opposition legislators led by MPCC president Nana Patole strongly raised the issue pertaining to Vidarbha while warning the Mahayuti government that it would not be allowed to go from here without providing a substantial package for Vidarbha and Marathwada.

In morning, Congress leaders, including Patole, Balasaheb Thorat, leader of opposition in council Ambadas Danve, Amit Deshmukh Praniti Shinde, Satej Patil and others staged protest on the Vidhan Bhavan stairs demanding more help for the farmers from the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar) government.

Speaking in the assembly during the discussions under rule 293, Patole said Vidarbha witnessed 14 suicides on an average everyday due to crop loss and mounting debt.

“Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said there is no backlog in Vidarbha in the council. He must explain how? Our government established Mihan, but the BJP government only made announcements of turning it into a cargo hub, which is nowhere to be seen. They have allotted a big chunk of land to Ramdeo Baba’s Patanjali plant in Mihan, but it is yet to start full-fledged operations. It was supposed to provide jobs to the farmers, which remained a distant dream. This government had also allotted land to industrialist Ambani.”

Quoting the Nagpur Pact through which Vidarbha was merged with Maharashtra, Patole demanded to extend the winter session by two days for discussing the issues pertaining to Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, including the farmers, unemployment, and backlog. “As per the pact, the session should be of six weeks, but in reality only one and half week’s session is being held this time. The government must address issues of this backward region by doing justice to it. The region is plagued by problems like rising inflation, growing unemployment and farmers' issues.”

On Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) opposing the caste-wise census, the Sakoli MLA said both BJP and RSS did not want economic and educational development of the backward community.

Highlighting the issue of Nagpur facing worst ever floods on September 23, Patole said the city was saved as the dam of Ambazari lake did not breach. “Under the name of development, the BJP-led administration has worsened the city in the name of road concretisation. It has already led to a 5 degrees rise in temperature. All the projects are plagued with corruption. Nagpur was once known as a green city, but under the pretext of development, the green cover has been reduced. The metro railway project here is costlier than Mumbai.”

Katol MLA Anil Deshmukh pointed towards big projects like Tata-Airbus worth Rs 22,000 crore being shifted to Gujarat. “The then BJP government had inked MOU for manufacturing metro coaches in the city with a China company, but nothing was heard about it. Similarly, the current CM had announced Rs 90,000 crore investment in Vidarbha after he returned from Davos. However, nothing is actually seen on the ground. City based businessmen Vilas Kale and Pradeep Maheshwari had also complained about lack of investment in Vidarbha and how the region's development has stopped since about a decade,” he said.