RailEnquiry

NAGPUR: Legislators from Vidarbha, cutting across party lines, had a special sitting with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday in which they took up pending issues of the region that did not get any official attention during the winter session of the state legislature held here in December.A large number of legislators from the region had petitioned the chief minister during the winter session that though the session is meant to address problems of the region, none got any attention during the ten-day session as much of it was wasted over the irrigation SIT demand. Chavan agreed to hold official meetings in Mumbai soon. As promised, Chavan held two separate meetings for Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Several senior ministers and top officials were present at the meeting.Legislators from Nagpur division included Sudhir Mungantiwar, Sudhakar Deshmukh, Dinanath Padole, Devendra Fadnavis, Namdeo Usendi, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ashish Jaiswal, Khushal Bopche, Suresh Deshmukh, Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare and others. They stressed on speeding up of Metro rail project, development of unauthorized layouts under the special scheme, special grants for Vidarbha Statutory Development Board, grant of Rs70 crore for a cancer hospital at GMCH, retaining the number of MBBS seats for the region and compensation for land aired for laying high power transmission towers.

They also demanded revival of the only spinning mills in Nagpur, modernization of Daga Hospital into a 500-bed one, starting of new RTO office in the city, shifting of garbage dumping yard, four-laning of Pardi Road, release of some forest land for setting up industries and boosting of tourism.

Legislators from Amravati division were told by the CM that Advantage Vidarbha event being held next month will provide a big opportunity to attract investment. The legislators sought speeding up of Mihan project, special incentives for industries in the region, release of funds for pending irrigation projects, broad-gauge rail line between Yavatmal and Achalpur. Legislators Subhash Zanak, Virendra Jagtap, Bachchu Kadu, Nilesh Parwekar, Raosaheb Shekhawat, Gopikisan Bajoriyam Chainsukh Sancheti, Dilip Sananda and Yashomati Thakur were among those present.