Zilla Parishad in Vidarbha seeks statehood for region

AKOLA: Amaravati Zilla Parishad, a district body in Maharashtra, has unanimously passed a resolution seeking creation of a separate state of Vidarbha.

This is for the first time that a Zilla Parishad in Vidarbha has passed such a resolution.

The resolution was passed at the meeting of standing council of Zilla Parishad at Chikhaldara yesterday, sources said.

Pratap Abhyankar, one of the members, moved the resolution whereas Surekha Thakre, Zilla Parishad president, seconded it.

Speakers at the meeting said that farmers' suicides in Vidarbha can be prevented if a separate state, which can utilise the natural resources in the region well, comes into being.

The demand for Vidarbha state has been rekindled in the wake of the recent decision by Congress to accede to the Telangana state demand.