Mumbai: Maharashtra's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis completes four years in office on Wednesday. Fadnavis now seems confident that his party will win the 2019 assembly poll and will return to power again. In a special interview given to Sakal Times Fadnavis claimed that BJP will have alliance with Shiv Sena for both the Parliament and Assembly elections of 2019.
Speaking with Sakal Times CM Fadnavis produced the report card of his government of last four years and explained how the state has growth in agricultural , economy and infrastructural development. He said that the fiscal health of the government is below all the expected parameters of economy, The revenue collected in this in surplus and the state revenue is about two thousand surplus than expected.
Here are excerpts from CM Fadnavis' interview :
Q-The state is facing the acute shortage of water due to deficit rain fall this year, this is the biggest challenge before the government to tackle the drought situation what are the government's plans to handle this situation?
Fadnavis - Due to less rainfall there situation this time is very serious and the government will have to tackle it with carefully. There is likely to be a serious problem of drinking water supply in state. The government has planned three phases of villages and the water crisis. There is a total review of the water sources and from where the village will get water. Acquisition of wells is also under process. There will provision of cattle feed in every village if problem arises.
Q- Do you thing that the opposition is using this issue?
Fadnavis- Of course they are , the last government removed the word Drought from the manual and put scarcity word instead. There is a procedure to announce the drought, the team from the centre will come and review the situation and according to parameters they will declare the drought. It is not in state government's control. The opposition leaders are only doing mouth service on the issue.
Q- Drought mitigation plan, implementation of seventh pay commission will put extra burden on the exchequer. How the government will manage it?
Fadnavis- It will definitely put stress on the exchequer, but we are trying to deploy best resources, Fiscal health of the government is good and u all the parameters. Revenue collection of state is about Rs 200 crores surplus.
Q- In last four year the government faced various challenges line Maratha Morcha, Farmer's agitation, Bhima Koregaon riot, what you will say about it?
Fadnavis -It was really tough time and we accepted the agitation and proceeds further, For Marratha students we started a scholarship where 602 courses has been included. For farmers we implemented various schemes, under which the government provided financial help to them. Loan waiver is not the only solution on farmer's issue. We provided direct help to the farmers. In lasy four years expense on the farming has been increased double. The government spent Rs 22,199 crores on farming and it's development, while the last government spent RS 13.700 crores in five years. Including loan waiver, crop insurance, and other disaster the government provided help of Rs 51,242 crores to the farmers. We tried to avoid the mistakes what the last government commuted while implementing the laon waiver scheme and helped the genuine farmers and about 6 lakh bogus farmers kept out of of the scheme
Q- Will the West Coast Refinery project take place in Kokan?
Fadnavis- Yes, it will. We are in active consultation with the people. There is some misunderstanding among them. In Gujrat, where the refinery is located the cultivation of mango continues so its a wrong feeling that the crop in refinery area is always damaged. We are trying to convince the people and we are hopeful that the people will convince and the project will take place.
Q-After the recent accident of the boat going towards the Shiv Smarak in Arabian Sea, there is a demand from some section that the location of the memorial should be shifted to some fort. Is the government considering it ?
Fadnavis- The government is not considering any change in the location of the Memorial of Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It was an accident and we are probing the cause, It's unfortunate that the accident occurred, but the boat had took shortcut and that was not a proper route. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj built forts at sea and it was a difficult task, we want to pay tribute to him by building the memorial in the Arabian sea.
Q-Alliance with Shiv Sena will happen before the election ?
Fadnavis - We have not even started a talk about the alliance with each others, but we have came forward for alliance. The opposition has consolidated their vote bank against BJP, where Shiv Sena is only like minded party, as Hindutva is their agenda too. So the voters of both the parties are same. To divide the votes we have to come together and we are trying.
