Kelkar committee report to be discussed tomorrow

The Maharashtra government would initiate discussion on Kelkar committee report tomorrow, Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar informed the Legislative Council today.
Mungantiwar, speaking during the question hour, said the government would initiate discussion on Kelkar committee report tomorrow and decision on shifting statutory development board office for the 'Rest of Maharashtra' (mainly constituting north Maharashtra) from Pune to Nashik, would not be taken until it was discussed in the house.
"We want a balanced growth where all regions develop uniformly. Some regions faced injustice," Mungantiwar said, replying to a question in this regard by Jayant Patil.
The committee, headed by the economist Vijay Kelkar, was formed in May 2010 to study developmental imbalance between various regions of Maharashtra. Its report was tabled in the both the houses of the legislature last December.

Mungantiwar said there could be no decision on its recommendations until "a detailed discussion" took place in the legislature.
Government had appointed a sub-committee under the finance minister on December 23 last year to look into the suggestions given by various departments on the committee's report, he said.

Leader of opposition in the Council Dhananjay Munde (NCP) asked how many sittings the sub-committee had so far.
"Fifteen departments were supposed to give suggestions and sub-committee's job is to filter them. As not a single suggestion has been received yet, there has been no sitting," Mungantiwar said.
Afterwards the government will present action-taken-report, the minister added.

The Kelkar committee report recommends higher allocation of funds for Vidarbha and Marathwada, especially for agriculture and irrigation.