Over Rs 1 lakh cr investments in Maha despite lockdown: Governor BS Koshyari

@the_news_21

Despite industrial lockdown, Maharashtra attracted more than Rs 1 lakh crore in domestic and foreign direct investments, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said on Monday.

Addressing the joint sitting of members of the state Legislature on the first day of the budget session, Koshyari said 66,000 permissions were issued online to start various industries during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

“Despite the industrial slowdown, Maharashtra attracted more than Rs 1 lakh crore in domestic and foreign direct investments. My government also launched the Maha Job portal to facilitate employment,” Koshyari said.

He said schemes like plug and play and ‘Mahaparwana’ have stimulated the industrial sector.

Despite the financial crunch, the ‘Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana’ was completed by the state government by paying off the debt of 30.85 lakh farmers amounting to Rs 19,684 crore, he said.

A sum of Rs 7,000 crore was provided for this in the “difficult year”, he said.

Koshyari also said the government notified over 800 acres of land in Mumbai’s Aarey area as a reserved forest.

It has issued a preliminary notification to declare 1,500 hectares of mangrove area as reserved forest, he said, adding that 8,500 hectares of mangrove area have finally been notified as reserved forest.

In his speech, the governor also said that the state government launched the ‘Shiv Bhojan Yojana’ on January 26 last year.

More than 3.15 crore thalis (meal plates) were served at just Rs 5 per thali under the scheme and the state incurred an expenditure of Rs 125 crore for the same, he said.

“This scheme’s success can be gauged from the fact that daily consumption of thalis has increased from the original 18,000 to 1,38,000,” he added.

Koshyari said under the National Food Security Act, wheat, rice and coarse grains were distributed to about seven crore people at just Re 1 to Rs 3 per kg.

“My government also provided food grains to about 40 lakh farmers from 14 suicide-prone districts at the cost of nearly Rs 750 crore,” he said.

The Maharashtra government arranged special trains and buses for the transport of migrant labourers and stranded students in other states during the lockdown period, the governor said.

“We provided temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical treatment and medicines at a cost of Rs 816 crore,” he said.

The Nisarga cyclone caused devastation in certain areas of the coastal region of Konkan last year and Rs 609 crore of relief was paid to those affected, at enhanced rates, Koshyari said, adding that Rs 179 crore were distributed for flood relief in Nagpur.

“Heavy rainfall and floods from June to October 2020 caused widespread damage to life, cattle, agricultural crops, houses and public properties. A package of Rs 10,000 crore for the damages caused due to this calamity has been announced,” he said.