Mumbai, Aug 13 (IANS): Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday approved increasing the tenure of the presidents of Nagar Panchayats to five years from the existing 2.5 years.

The state government will soon issue an ordinance to amend the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 as both the houses of the state legislature are not in session.

The elections of Nagar Panchayats were held in 2021-22 with a duration of its president of two and half years. As their term is ending, the cabinet decided to increase it to five years. The decision will be implemented with retrospective effect.

“The government considers it necessary to provide that the terms of office of the President and Vice President of the Nagar Panchayats shall be five years irrespective of whether they are elected directly or indirectly. It is therefore proposed to amend section 341 B-1, 341 B-2 and 341 B-4 of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 suitably,” an official said.

Further, the Cabinet also cleared the agreement between MahaGenco and KfW at a fixed rate of interest for the loan of 390 MW solar power projects in the state.

The cabinet gave approval for these projects of Rs 1,494.46 crore instead of the earlier proposed Rs 1,564.22 crore. The debt portion will be kept at 70 per cent instead of 85 per cent of the project cost.

KfW will provide a loan amounting to 130 million euros which will be replayed over a maximum of 12 years at a fixed interest rate of 2.84 percent per annum instead of 0.05 percent interest rate. These projects are being set up in Yavatmal, Washim and Chandrapur districts.

Moreover, the cabinet also cleared the expenditure of Rs 149 crore for phase II of the Dairy Development Project to be implemented in 19 districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

The total cost of the project is Rs 328.42 crore of which Rs 179.16 crore will be contributed by the farmers and animal keepers.

The project will be implemented in Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gondia, Wardha, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim, Gadchiroli, Amravati, Akola, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Nanded, Latur, Dharashiv and Parbhani districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada till 2026-27.