Almost one and half months after the Economic Advisory Council headed by Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran submitted a roadmap for Maharashtra to become a $1 trillion economy, the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday held meeting with the senior officers from various departments to understand its present status and discuss strategy for its implementation. Pawar, who holds the planning and finance departments, also heads Project Management Unit (PMU) to review various government initiatives, policies and programmes and decide the implementation strategies. He directed that the Chief Secretary along with 8 to 10 senior bureaucrats will discuss the actionable points that can be taken up for immediate implementations for Maharashtra to become a $1 trillion economy by 2027-28. It was also decided that a special meeting will be organised to be chaired by the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with DCMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar after August 25 to deliberate the steps from various departments to be taken up for the implementation of roadmap spelt out by EAC and the actionable points. Tata Strategic Management Group CEO Mangesh Sathe made a detailed presentation on the EAC roadmap.
Interestingly, this is the third such meeting Pawar chaired after he recently trough PMU reviewed the status of various infrastructure projects in Pune and around and another with regard to the functioning of the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA) which has been established on the lines of Niti Aayog headed by the Chief Minister. Pawar’s lead in holding such meetings in his capacity as the finance minister led to a debate to checkmate the Chief Minister who heads the War Room which has been formed to monitor the implementation of a slew of development projects across the state. Incidentally, Pawar has clarified that it is the Chief Minister who ultimately takes a final decision and also denied encroaching in his territory.
Pawar at the meeting said that the state government could achieve its goal of a $1 trillion economy by 2027-28 if there will be a comprehensive development of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane and Palghar districts. ‘’We have to create new opportunities for development by expanding operations in important sectors such as agriculture, agro-related industries, energy, infrastructure, communication, housing, medium and small scale industries, skill development, manufacturing, services,’’ he said adding that Maharashtra will make its full contribution to achieve India becoming a $5 trillion economy. He asked all the state governments to take necessary steps on a priority basis.
‘’To make the economy of the state $1 trillion, there is a need to create infrastructure in a range of sectors including roads, ports, airports, power generation, industry, education, health, tourism. Further, the government will have to promote agriculture, agro-based industries, manufacturing and service sectors. For this to be achieved, the planning and finance departments will have to make decisions urgently. He also directed the officers to be proactive to start the process for getting the approval from the Chief Minister and other ministers.
Pawar said that the development plans should be implemented considering the district as central which will ultimately help the standard of living of farmers, women, workers, youth.
Based on EAC’s recommendation that the state economy needs to grow at 14-15 per cent to achieve $1 trillion, Pawar said that all efforts should be made for the same. He made a strong case for the completion of ambitious infrastructure projects in a record time.
