Maha mulls extending infra-dev scheme to 'minority' panchayats

The Maharashtra government plans to extend its infrastructure development scheme in minority dominated civic bodies to gram panchayats.

A proposal to this effect is likely to come up in the cabinet this week.

The minority welfare department has given instructions to concerned officials to identify the villages which are minority dominated. Minorities comprise approximately 20.5 per cent of the state's total population.

Officials said allocation of Rs 19 crore has already been made in the supplementary demands for extending the scheme to rural areas. "There is a demand from elected representatives to increase the budget to Rs 100-cr," they said.

As per the scheme, villages with minority population upto 200 will get Rs four lakh annually, Rs five lakh for 200 to 300 population, Rs 7 lakh for 300 to 500 population and Rs 10 lakh for above 500 population.

Water supply schemes including drinking water pipelines, storm-water drainage pathways, burial grounds, community centres, libraries will be taken up.

Officials said the scheme has been successfully implemented in urban areas for the last three years.

Govt provides aid to farmers

The Maharashtra government has extended financial assistance to a tune of Rs 266.24 crores to the farmers affected by excess rains that damaged crops in Nagpur division during 2011-12. Of this, Rs 226.33 crores have been disbursed to the affected persons, an official release said in Nagpur on Tuesday. Cotton, soya and paddy growers in Nagpur division were mostly affected due to heavy rains and Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan had reviewed the losses during a meeting held here recently. However, Rs 39.91 crores were yet to be disbursed as either some of the affected persons were not available in their respective villages or some of them did not provide correct numbers of their bank accounts while some did not have any bank account. The district-wise assistance is as follows: Nagpur Rs 75.40 crores, Wardha Rs 86.54 cr, Bhandara Rs 1.22 cr, Gondia Rs 3.98 cr, Chandrapur Rs 78.72 cr and Gadchiroli Rs 20.40 cr, the release added.