INDIA. Mumbai: The 62nd anniversary of the establishment of Maharashtra state was celebrated with enthusiasm and gaiety at historic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park at Dadar in Central Mumbai and elsewhere in the state on Sunday.
The Maharashtra Governor unfurled the national tricolor flag while the police band played the national song on the occasion. The Governor was greeted by a guard of honour and inspected the magnificent procession put on by several units.
Mumbai Police’s Women Nirbhaya Squad, Mumbai City Riot Control Squad, Mumbai Railway Police Force, Mumbai Fire Brigade, Brass and Pipe bands connected to the Mumbai and Railway police, State Reserve Police, and SRPF Training Centre (Daund, Pune) were among the units and mobile columns that took part. The march was led by DCP Datta Nalawade, ACP Nitin Jadhav, and Police Inspectors Ramesh Lokhande and Ashok Nimbalkar.
Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi, Ministers Aditya Thackeray and Aslam Shaikh, Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava, Chief Protocol Officer Manisha Patankar-Mhaiskar, top police and defence officers, and members of the Consular Corps were in attendance.
The flag was raised in Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan by Chairman of the State Legislative Council Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar. Dr. Nilam Gorhe, Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Elena Remizova, Vice Consul, Russian Consulate, Mumbai, and others were in attendance.
At the Hutatma Chowk (martyrs’ memorial) in South Mumbai, the CM also paid respect to martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement (SMM).
His wife Rashmi and son Minister Aaditya Thackeray accompanied him.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari noted in his statement at the Shivaji Park ceremony that May 1 is also a national holiday for workers. “The labourers’ toil helped to shape the state. Hence we must remember them on International Workers’ Day,” he added.
In socially enriching Maharashtra, he recalled the words and acts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule, Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Lokmanya Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Bharat Ratna Dr. B R Ambedkar, and others.
“Maharashtra stands second in the nation in the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) released by the ‘Niti Aayog .’Similarly, Maharashtra ranks second in the central government’s ‘Good Governance Index report- 2021’,” Koshyari stated.
“The state government has planned a Bulk Drug Park in the Raigadh district in the Konkan region along the Delhi- Mumbai corridor on 2500 acres. He said that a medical equipment Park had been planned on 350 acres of land at the Auric Smart City in Bidkin, near Aurangabad,” he said.
The state did not let the COVID-19 pandemic hinder its progress and development, and Maharashtra is on track to become the first state in the country to reach a one-trillion-dollar economy.
The government has made decisions to encourage the use of air travel.
Flights are taking- off from the airports at Sindhudurg (Chipi), Nanded, Gondia, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, and Nashik. Over 10 lakh passengers travelled by air from Shirdi airport till the end of December 2021.
The government has decided to offer Rs 50,000 as an incentive to farmers who repay their loans on time, and this subsidy will benefit around 20 lakh farmers.
The government is also working on an irrigation distribution system that will use the closed pipeline. Various farmer groups have been formed under the “Vikel te Pikel” (sow what will be sold) initiative. For a huge number of farmers, this is proving to be advantageous.
Under the ‘MahaAawas plan,’ 4.75 lakh dwellings have been built in rural regions to date. Similarly, the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ has begun 174 water supply schemes. As part of its beginning financing, the government is raising Rs. 100 crore.
In addition, under the ‘Mukhyamantri Rojgar Nirmiti Program,’ Rs. 1100 crore has been invested in projects approved for the youth to eliminate unemployment.
The state government has started the “Matoshree Gram Samruddhi Shet/ Panand Raste Yojana” (a scheme for providing good roads in rural areas for facilitating agriculture-related activities) for the farmers. For this scheme run under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) of the state, over 16000 km long paved roads are being constructed.
The “Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg” will soon be partially opened for transportation.
The coastal project in Mumbai, the ring road around Pune city, the capacity building of the Mumbai-Pune express highway, construction of the new road on the Khopoli- Khandala Ghat (in Pune), Versova- Bandra Sea Link (in Mumbai), Thane creek bridge, Greenfield Konkan Express Highway, Revas to Reddy marine highway, the Versova- Virar sea route project, Virar to Alibag multipurpose transport corridor and construction works of many such developmental projects have gained momentum, the Governor stated in his speech.
Maharashtra is a state in India’s western and central peninsular region occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It was formed on May 1, 1960, by splitting the then bilingual Bombay State, which had existed since 1956, into majority Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat due to a nationwide organization of states based on language.
The formation of the state resulted from a nearly five-year-long struggle by the SMM to form a state based on language and inclusion of Mumbai, Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani, and adjoining areas. The denial of this demand led to the long-drawn struggle in which 106 people sacrificed their lives.
During the struggle, the then Chief Minister of Bombay Presidency, late Moraraji Desai, steadfastly held that Maharashtra had no authority over Mumbai and asserted that the linguistic region was useless and baseless.
In November 1956, Desai reportedly ordered a “shoot at sight’ on demonstrators in South Mumbai, due to which 15 people died on the spot. Subsequently, more firings took place, killing more people. Due to this brutality, Desai was replaced by Yashwantrao Chavan as the CM. Subsequently, Chavan became the first CM of the newly formed Maharashtra state.
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