Maharashtra Cabinet approves reconstitution of development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada and rest of state

In the run up to local body polls in Maharashtra, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government on Tuesday approved the reconstitution of statutory development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada and the rest of Maharashtra.

The tenure of these boards expired in April 2020 but the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did not reconstitute them despite scathing criticism from the BJP and other organisations.

The Chief Minister’s Office said that the state government will forward the proposal through the Governor to the Government of India. The BJP has contended that development in Vidarbha and Marathwada came to a halt as these boards were disbanded.

The statutory development boards were constituted on May 1,1994 to correct the regional imbalance vis-à-vis allocation of funds and resources for the development of neglected regions. Their tenure was last extended by former President Pranab Mukherjee on April 30, 2015 for five years.

The MVA had objected to Governor BS Koshyari’s authority in these boards as the latter didn’t clear the coalition’s proposal to appoint 12 MLCs from his quota. The MVA partners were of the view that appointments to these boards without filling the total capacity of the legislature may lead to legal problems.

Now, the reconstitution will come in handy for the BJP, in association with the Shinde camp, for making inroads in these regions and thereby consolidating its position to achieve its mission to win 45 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.