Mandate indicated that people in Maharashtra wanted change: Governor C Vidyasagar Rao

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today said the present mandate clearly indicated that people want a change for speedy development of the state and hence, awareness among voters has resulted in an increase in percentage of voting.

Rao made the observation while addressing a joint session of state legislature, after the Devendra Fadnavis government won the trust vote today.

"The Government will implement good decisions taken by the previous government. The state is facing a number of challenges starting from revenue deficit to developmental issues like adequate and continuous supply of power, completion of important ongoing projects, basic infrastructure and providing a transparent and effective administration," he said.

"The objective of my Government is 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' and hence, the Government is committed to deliver time bound services to the citizens in a transparent manner," he said.

The Government will enact a 'Delivery of Services Guarantee Act', he said. The proposed Act is an endeavour to assure citizens of their right to timely, efficient, effective and transparent public service.

The Government will also bring about delegation and decentralisation of powers, simplification of laws and procedures, self-certification by citizens and will do away with unnecessary affidavits, and multiple permissions under similar laws, he said.

The new Government is committed to providing a citizen centric administration. An e-portal and a mobile application 'Apale Sarkar' will be launched within the next 100 days. Through this portal and mobile application, people can lodge their complaints and make suggestions.

The Government has undertaken a project of constructing a Grand Memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea. A National Memorial of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, planned at Indu Mill, has already been approved by the Central Government. These prestigious projects and also ambitious projects such as Trans Harbour Link and Western Coastal Road will be completed with the assistance of Central Government in a time bound manner, he said.

The IT Sector has played a significant role in Maharashtra's development, the Governor said. Pune has emerged as a major IT hub in the country. IT policy will be revamped to make Pune the new IT capital of India and support growth of IT sector in other cities such as Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad and Kolhapur, he said.

To bring transparency in public procurement, e-tendering will be made compulsory. Similarly, for auctioning public resources like sand, forest produce, lands etc, e-auction will be made compulsory, the governor said.

As a step towards transparency and facilitation to public, updated 7/12 extracts will be made available online and based thereon e-mutations will be started in all districts by the end of March, 2015.

"There have been some unfortunate incidents of atrocities against the Backward Classes in the State in the recent past. Government has taken a serious note of these incidents and has formed a Special Investigation Team to enquire into this. My Government has a strong commitment and firm resolve to punish the guilty and prevent the recurrence such atrocities.

These happenings in the State have raised several issues such as safety and security of common citizens, atrocities on women and other weaker sections, terrorism and left wing extremism," he said.

"The Government will drastically improve and maintain law and order situation in the State through a stronger and well trained police force. The Government is committed to create new systems which will be at par with international safely standards.

My Government will continue to modernize the police force and impart training at regular intervals that is relevant to the times on high priority basis. The Government will step up efforts to gear up and restructure the police force and at the same time will provide it with necessary equipment and training to meet the challenges in combating terrorism in the State.

To improve the standard of living of police personnel, the Government will provide them basic facilities such as good accommodation, educational facilities to their children," he said.