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Deshmukh has a pep talk with bureaucrats

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today asked all bureaucrats to formulate plans and proposals to improve the economic situation of the state which has been in a bad shape because of the short term decisions of the previous Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government.

Presiding over his first meeting with the bureaucrats at Mantralaya in Bombay, Deshmukh said secretaries of respective departments should submit the status report explaining each and every detail regarding finances of the department. Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal was also present at the meeting which was called to assess the immediate issues and get a first hand knowledge of the present economic situation.

He said, under the previous Sena-BJP alliance government the debt position of the exchequer had increased as huge loans were taken for their ambitious projects. No effort was made to increase the revenue. He said each department should submit a proposal to the government identifying which schemes are progressing smoothly and where hurdles have been created due to shortage of finance. ''The respective secretaries should spell out what steps could be taken to improve the financial position,'' he added.

He told the secretaries that though the government was guarantor of loans taken for various ambitious projects, there was no proper channelisation of the resources to ensure that the finances reach the respective corporations. The previous government did not not appoint any financial expert to oversee the management of the corporations, he added.

Bhujbal expressed severe concern at the fact that short term decisions were taken without considering their pros and cons. ''The bureaucrats cannot be blamed for it,'' he added. Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar said that the state's annual plan, cotton procurement, crop insurance, nutritious food distribution, loan distribution of the land development banks were the issues to be taken up on a priority basis.

UNI

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