No need to extend statutory board term,saysVJAS president-Times of India

No need to extend statutory board term,saysVJAS president

• Statutory board was formed 15 years ago to bring development to the region.

• The special funds were not utilized and end up in development of its members’ electoral constituencies.

• The board needs to be liquidated and a separate state Vidarbha formed, only this will help the region.

Times of India –Dated 31^st December 2009

The term of Vidabha Statutory Development Board formed in 1994 is expiring on april 30,2010.The Maharashtra government, in its recently concluded winter session of the legislature, has expressed its resolve to move the Centre seeking an extension for the development board.

However,Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti,a farmers’ rights group which has also lent its support to a separate state demand, has said the Maharashtra government should instead agree to create a separate state.” The statutory board was formed 15 years ago with a view to bring the region on par with other developed regions of the state. But all these years it has miserably failed in this endeavor as Vidarbha region continues to languish as one of the most underdeveloped regions,” said VJAS president Kishor Tiwari.

“For the first five years, the board was nothing more than a white elephant. Later, under the special powers bestowed on him as chairman of constitutional board, the governor gave directives for targeted budgetary allocation to remove Vidarbha’s developmental backlog in the sectors like irrigation, health care and tribal development.

“The board created its own problems as for some years the special funds were not utilized and ended up in development of its members’ electoral constituencies. The Maharashtra government most often diverted the special funds to other regions. Lapses were removed in later years but the sad fact remains that till date Vidarbha has not caught up with more influential regions of western Maharashtra,” remarked Tiwari.” So time has come for Maharashtra government to admit its miserable failure, liquidate the board and create separate Vidarbha state. Only that can help Vidarbha development,” he added.

Tiwari has also come out strongly against a move to create a separate planning board. He claimed a meeting of top officials was recently called by governor’s secretary Shrikant deshpande to discuss the proposal.

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