Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Sep 17 (IANS): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said that the state government’s prime goal is to ensure the time-bound progress of Marathwada region in various sectors including agriculture, communication, generation of employment through industrial development, and development of infrastructure.

“The state government has papered a project report for the Rs 15,000 crore scheme to overcome the drought situation of Marathwada by diverting the water of rivers towards Godavari basin, which is flowing away to the oceans,” said the Chief Minister while speaking at the Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din (Marathwada Liberation Day) program and paying tribute to Martyrs and remembering freedom fighters.

He added that the major schemes include the DamanGanga (Ekdare) Godavari (Waghad) and Damanganga- Vaitarna- Godavari (Kadwa Dev river) interlink scheme and the Paar Godavari interlink scheme.

Chief Minister further said that for preserving the memories of the Marathwada Liberation struggle and erecting the memorial at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar the government provided Rs 100 crore last year.

He said similarly, Rs 2 crore has been given to each district of the Marathwada region through the District Planning fund.

He said that for the last two and a quarter years, the government has been taking concrete steps for the development of the Marathwada region, adding, that last year in the Cabinet meeting the decisions were taken and the implementation was started with immediate effect.

The Chief Minister said that the water supply scheme to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar with the expenditure of Rs 2740 crore is one of the most important schemes. He added the said construction of 4 lakh wells is underway in the Marathwada region.

He said that emphasis is given to the construction of roads with greater speed, adding that the construction of 44 roads is going on with the assistance of NABARD. He also said that the repairing of 1030 kilometre-long roads is being carried out through the Hybrid Annuity Scheme.

The Chief Minister said that the Kirloskar Toyota electric- Hybrid Car project with an investment of Rs 20,000 20 crore is in the process of setting up at the Auric City, Shendra industrial area on the outskirts of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. The electric vehicle project of Ather Energy Company with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore 2 is in the process of construction on 100 acres of land in Bidkin Village.

The Chief Minister said that with the launching of Jalna-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express the Marathwada region has been connected to the capital. The announcement for development of the 174 km long Jalna- Jalgaon railway route has been made and this will help Jalna and Sillod in increasing the connectivity to a larger extent.

He said that the connectivity of Marathwada, North Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and coastal Gujarat will be increased and this will give a boost to the development of this region.