3.5.13

Plan for Palghar district postponed


The Maharashtra state government has shelved its plan to partition Thane district and carve out a new tribal-dominated, semi-urban Palghar district.
“The proposal for the bifurcation of Thane—it was to come into effective on Wednesday—has been put off for now. Though we are committed to creating a new district for effective administration of the tribal lands, the decision will be taken soon,” said revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat.
It is learnt that the file for creating a new Palghar district on the occasion of the 53rd anniversary of the formation of Maharashtra state is awaiting finance minister Ajit Pawar’s sanction.
While Thorat parried queries on the reasons which prompted authorities to postpone the plan, sources claimed that financial constraints and huge funding for drought-relief programmes compelled the DF government to rethink the proposal.
Development experts were opposed to the proposal as it would lead to “feather-bedding of the bureaucracy”.
“The adivasis would not greatly benefit from the partition of Thane district. A bulk of the funds would be used up on creating a new administrative and supervisory units at Palghar. What the area needs is wider roads, improved medical services and quality education institutes. Merely elevating a taluka into a district will not effect any immediate change in the semi-rural and adivasi heartland,’’ said Abhay Pethe, a regional development expert and economist.
A section of the top officialdom agrees with Pethe. “There is mass migration from the drought-affected areas into urban centres. Instead of concentrating on how to stop this migration and provide relief and temporary employment in these areas, the state plans to make new offices at Palghar,” said an official.
Officials estimate that the state will have to budget more than Rs 500 crore to create infrastructure for Palghar district, such as building offices for the district collector, district superintendent of police, zilla parishad and district courts. Though several ministers, including finance minister Ajit Pawar, Thane guardian minister Ganesh Naik and minister of state for tribal affairs Rajendra Gavit, had reiterated the need for splitting Thane district, the state did not make the required financial provision in the 2013-14 budget.

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