Why is MVA afraid to speak about development?

Assembly elections are likely to be announced anytime. Bharatiya Janata Party- Shiv Sena – NCP Mahayuti has decided that it will ask for voter’s mandate on the basis of development works. The Modi government in the centre and Mahayuti government in the state have implemented many welfare schemes for the common man along with speeding up infrastructure development projects in the state.

For the last ten years, Prime Minister Modi has been consistently approaching people with a plan of development. Even during his public interaction program like ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Prime Minister Modi keeps informing about the welfare schemes of his government, the benefits of these schemes to common people, experiences of beneficiaries who have benefited from the centre’s schemes. With the sense of the responsibility that people have entrusted him with this power, Prime Minister Modi always gives an account of the development work done by his government.

First in Lok Sabha election and now in Assembly election as well, instead of talking on the issue of development done by the centre and the Mahayuti government, Maha Vikas Aghadi seems to have based their campaign on personal criticism and negative issues. “MVA” leaders are sceptical to talk about the issue of development. The reason is that if the common Marathi man in this election votes on the basis of performance, especially by comparing the inefficiency and mismanagement of Maha Vikas Aghadi’s two and half years in power, then MVA will get nothing but a disastrous defeat in coming election.

Now, what do you see after comparing 15 consecutive years of Congress-NCP government and seven and half years of Mahayuti government? Till 2014 only one line of Mumbai Metro could be operational. That work also took 10 years. Hon. Modiji inaugurated the metro works in 2019 and work on 337 km of 10 new lines in Mumbai started immediately. 4 lines out of these have been already started.Metro was not even proposed for Nagpur.

Our government has completed the construction of 26.1 km long Nagpur Metro with 24 stations in just 5 years’ time. Everyday 80 thousand Nagpurkars can travel by metro which is fast and comfortable. Considering the rise in population of Pune city, Congress – Sharad Pawar did not take any efforts to improve the traffic situation during 15 consecutive years in power.

They never took any initiative for Pune Metro. Mahayuti government has completed Pune Metro work at a very fast pace. As much as 1 lakh Punekars travel by Metro every day. Before 2014 – in Maharashtra there were 2,63,708 km long roads, 7 airports, a total of 1462.91 lakh metric tons of  goods were transported by road. After Fadnavis government came to power in 2014; 3, 25,489 km roads were constructed, 593.48 km Metro was started, 13 airports were started functioning.

The journey from Marine Line to Bandra Sea Link now takes just 10 minutes after the completion of Dharmaveer Swaraj Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Mumbai Coastal Road Project- Marine Drive to Bandra-Worli Sea Link Project. Because of Atal Setu the travel time from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai has come down to 20 minutes from 2 hours.

Prior to 2014, number of villages were totally dependent on tankers for water. Farmers were committing suicide because of a very bad irrigation planning. Water supply by tankers at Latur, Beed, Parbhani, Jalna was no more a news in Maharashtra. Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan was started after Fadnavis government came to power in 2014. By 2023-24, this project has benefited 16,500 villages and 3.3 million farmers. Agricultural production increased in drought prone areas. Revolutionary changes took place in agriculture sector during Mahayuti government.

Schemes like Magel Tyala Shettale (Farm Pond to those who ask for it), Magel Tyala Phalbaag (Orchard to those who ask for it), Magel Tyala Tushar Sinchan (Sprinkler irrigation to those who ask for it), Magel Tyala Adhunik Perniyantre (Modern planters to those who ask for it), Magel Tyala Saurpump ( Solar pumps to those who ask for it), Galyukt Shivar and Galmukt Dharan (“Silt-laden fields and Silt-free Dams” scheme that aims to remove silt from dams and use it in the fields) and other complimentary policies for agriculture have increased the productivity of not only Kharif but Rabi crops as well. The area under irrigation increased.

Before 2014, rural areas used to face power cut for 10-12 hours a day, rural areas also used to face load shedding for 4 days a week. After 2014 – there is 24 hours electricity supply in rural areas now. Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh-Sarathi Scholarship Scheme was launched during the tenure of Fadnavis government for higher education of students from Maratha community.

This helped Maratha, Kunbi, Maratha-Kunbi, and Kunbi-Maratha students to pursue higher education in India. Under this scheme, 179 Maratha students were helped to pursue higher education. A total of ₹1.47 crore have been distributed.

Percentage of Maratha youth in administration has increased. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad – Sarathi Scholarship Scheme was launched by the government. 57 people from the Maratha community became IAS officers, 15 became IPS officers and 348 became RTO officers through Sarathi Scheme. Annasaheb Patil Financial Corporation was established.

1 lakh Marathas became entrepreneurs through Annasaheb Patil Economic Development Corporation. Loan of more than 6 thousand crores was allotted to 1 lakh beneficiaries.

The subsidy distribution for the kharif season of 2023 has started to the cotton and soybean farmers in the state. In the first phase, 2398 crore 93 lakh rupees have been deposited in the accounts of 49 lakh 50 thousand account holders. After the decision to buy soybean at MSP after 90 days, the central government has also decided to increase the import duty on edible oil by 20 per cent. Soybeans will get a good price because of this decision.

Senior leaders Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray are well aware of what they have done regarding the above issues while in power. Realizing that it is difficult to discuss these issues in the campaign, it seems that MVA will focus on emotional issues and false propaganda. Of course one thing is sure, that the wise voter of Maharashtra will definitely give priority to the issue of development.

 

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India Online – 07 October 2024)

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson