Private sector to develop two ports in Maharashtra: CM Devendra Fadnavis

NAGPUR: Two ports in Maharashtra will be developed by private players and these will be operational within a year, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

The Dighi and Jaigarh ports, located in coastal Konkan, will be developed by private parties, he said.

Besides these, the foundation stone of Karanja port at Raigad has been laid and it is expected to be developed in 2-3 years, he told a group of journalists over breakfast at his official residence.

The government was also working on development of ports in Navi Mumbai, he said.

Fadnavis said the government was contemplating building jail complexes housing lower courts across the state, as per the new jail manual.

Two days back, Fadnavis, while replying to a calling attention motion, had said that central prisons, which were in the vicinity of thick residential areas and business districts, were being shifted outside the city limits.

Elaborating on the issue, he said today that the new complexes proposed to be developed would include jails, lower courts and sessions courts.

At present, the undertrials and convicts are taken from the central jails to court premises for hearings, for which security personnel are required, he said, adding that there are expenses on transportation and the process is time-consuming.

Once the jail complexes are ready, the trial courts can hold hearings within the premises, he said.

"We will approach the High Court to set up trial courts in the complex itself," Fadnavis said.

At many places, the government has acquired land for setting up such complexes, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the government has successfully tackled the coal crisis in the state's Vidarbha region.

The central government is regularly allocating coal to power stations in Vidarbha. As a long-term solution, the state government has decided to seek a separate coal block for uninterrupted supply, Fadnavis said.

"It is ironical that despite there being coal plants in this region, the supply has to be taken from Odisha mines. This escalates the cost of generation as transportation charges are higher," he said.

Fadnavis also said that the state government was concerned about power distribution and transmission losses.

The government was trying to phase out old power plants to reduce the losses and improve generation, he said.

"We are also trying to detect power theft and instead of checking at feeder level, now the checks will be done at individual DP level," he said

An ambitious solar power programme has also been drawn up to reduce burden of thermal power generation, he said.

On the Smart City project, Fadnavis said that many proposals have been received and once the project is cleared by the Centre, the state will go ahead with it.

To a question if there was a proposal to introduce inland waterways in Maharashtra which has 720 kms of coastal line, Fadnavis said the issue was under consideration of the state government.