Tag: Uddhav Thackeray

  • Amit Shah urges CMs to give priority to end Naxal menace; seeks joint action to choke flow of funds

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday urged the chief ministers of Naxal-affected states to give priority to addressing the menace so that it can be eradicated within a year and sought a joint strategy to choke the flow of funds to the red ultras.

    Addressing chief ministers, state ministers and top officials of 10 Naxal-hit states, Shah also said that the fight against the Maoists has now reached its final phase and it needs to be accelerated and made decisive, an official statement said.

    He said the death toll due to the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence has come down to 200 in a year.

    The chief ministers who attended the meeting were Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), K Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra) and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand).

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan did not attend the meeting.

    Their states were represented by either a minister or senior officials.

    The home minister urged all the chief ministers to give priority to the problem of Maoists, also called Left Wing Extremism, for the next one year so that a permanent solution can be found to the problem.

    It requires building pressure, increasing speed and better coordination, he said.

    Shah said it is very important to neutralise the sources of income of the Naxals.

    The agencies of the central and the state governments should try to stop this by making a system together, he said.

    According to sources, intensifying operations against the Naxals, action against their frontal organisations, filling up the security vacuum, choking the flow of funds to extremists and concerted action by the Enforcement Directorate, the National Investigation Agency and the state police were some of the issues discussed threadbare at the meeting.

    Shah said the state administrations should be proactive and move ahead in coordination with the central forces.

    If a regular review is conducted at the levels of the chief minister, chief secretary and the DGP, the problems of coordination at the lower level will automatically get resolved, he said.

    The home minister said the fight against the LWE is now in a crucial stage and the government is optimistic of reducing the menace to an insignificant level at the earliest.

    Observing that the LWE has claimed more than 16,000 civilian lives in the last 40 years, he said there has been a consistent decline both in the violence figure and its geographical spread in the last decade.

    The incidents of LWE violence have come down by 70 percent from an all-time high of 2,258 in 2009 to 665 in 2020.

    The resultant deaths have also come down by 82 percent from a high of 1,005 in 2010 to 183 in 2020.

    The area under Maoists’ influence was also constricted, with the geographical spread shrunk from 96 districts in 2010 to just 53 in 2020.

    The extremists have been pushed to a few pockets, with only 25 districts accounting for 85 percent of the LWE violence in the country.

    The home minister said that without eliminating the LWE, the country neither will be able to spread democracy to the bottom nor will be able to develop the underdeveloped areas.

    “So, instead of being satisfied with what we have achieved so far, we need to increase the speed to get what is left,” he said.

    Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken an important decision to bring down the fixed expenditure of the states on the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).

    As a result, there has been a reduction in the expenditure of the states on the deployment of CAPFs by about Rs 2,900 crore in 2019-20 as compared to the year 2018-19.

    “The prime minister has continuously reviewed it and is constantly guiding us all,” he said.

    Referring to several development initiatives taken in the Naxal-hit areas, Shah said the central government has sanctioned 17,600 km of road, out of which 9,343 km has already been constructed.

    To improve telecommunication connectivity in LWE affected districts, 2,343 new mobile towers have been installed and 2,542 additional towers will be installed in the next 18 months.

    For financial inclusion, 1,789 post offices, 1,236 bank branches, 1,077 ATMs and 14,230 banking correspondents have been deputed and 3,114 post offices will be opened within a year.

    For imparting quality education to the youths, special focus is given to the opening of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS).

    A total of 234 EMRSs have been sanctioned for LWE affected districts, of these 119 are functional, he said.

    Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged the Centre to conduct a study on how many children from Naxal-hit regions in the country succeed in national-level examinations like NEET and JEE.

    “If our systems continue to bypass these areas, it is not going to help the cause of people of LWE affected areas,” he said.

    Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharita demanded that the Centre further improve road connectivity and telecommunication network and set up more Eklavya schools and post offices in the Naxalism-affected areas.

    Maoists are now confined to only two districts — Visakhapatnam and East Godavari — in the state, she said.

    Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, Giriraj Singh, Arjun Munda and Nityanada Rai attended the meeting.

    Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvinda Kumar along with senior civil and police officers of central and state governments were also present.

  • Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray asks officials to form solar fencing norms for farmers to protect crops

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday asked officials to formulate guidelines for farmers to set up solar-powered fences to protect their crops from wild animals.

    He issued the instructions while holding a review meeting here on Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Yojana, under which support is provided to farmers and people residing near forests to set up solar fences (which work like electric fences but powered by solar energy).

    Solar-powered fences should be erected on a pilot basis in five villages of Chandrapur district, the CM said.

    As many as 939 villages have been selected under the scheme in the state, he said.

    Thackeray also asked officials to increase radio collaring of tigers to track them and avoid human-animal conflict.

    The scheme focuses on sustainable development of forests, water, land and people living in villages near forest to increase productivity, reduce forest dependency, provide alternate livelihood sources and reduce man-animal conflict.

  • ‘Doing good work’: BJP MLA Manda Mhatre lauds Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

    By PTI

    THANE: Maharashtra BJP MLA Manda Mhatre has praised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying he is “doing good work” in the state.

    The legislator from the opposition party in the state also told reporters in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday that whenever anyone, including from the opposition, approaches Thackeray for any work, he gives a patient hearing and useful advice.

    “The chief minister is doing good work,” Mhatre said while mentioning that Thackeray had given approval for a super-speciality hospital in Navi Mumbai, which would be of great help for citizens.

    “When the chief minister is supportive of our projects and gives it a push, why not say he is doing good work,” said the MLA from Belapur in Navi Mumbai.

    When pointed out that the CM was facing criticism from her party, the MLA said, “A chief minister is for the entire state. As a leader of the state he has to take important decisions. If we say that he has been doing good work, what is wrong in it.”

    Notably, Mhatre is among the 12 women BJP MLAs from Maharashtra who wrote to Thackeray on Wednesday, expressing concerns over rising crimes against women in the state.

  • Letter war: BJP says Maharashtra CM Thackeray should respect Governor’s post

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Amid a letter war between Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of crimes against women, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday said the CM should respect the governor’s post.

    Days after Koshyari wrote a letter to Thackeray for convening a special session of the state Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, the CM on Monday hit back, saying the governor should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.

    In his letter to the governor, Thackeray gave figures of crimes against women in BJP-ruled states, including Uttarakhand, the home state of Koshyari.

    Thackeray stated that such “instructions” by the governor could stoke a new controversy” and are damaging to the democratic parliamentary procedures.

    On Wednesday, state BJP chief Patil said, “CM Thackeray should respect the constitutional post of governor. If he is pointing fingers at other states, the decision to call for a special session would be theirs only. He should focus on improving the situation here.”

    Patil was talking to reporters after BJP’s Sanjay Upadhyay filed his nomination for the next month’s Rajya Sabha bypoll, necessitated due to the death of the sitting MP Rajiv Satav.

    A 34-year-old woman was allegedly raped inside a stationary tempo parked on the roadside in the Sakinaka area of Mumbai earlier this month.

    The accused, a 45-year-old man, brutalised the victim by inserting a rod in her private parts.

    The woman died during treatment at a hospital.

  • Maharashtra CM asks governor to request Centre for special session on crimes against women

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Days after Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari wrote a letter for convening a special session of the state Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, Chief Minster Uddhav Thackeray has hit back saying Koshyari should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.

    In his letter to the governor written on Monday, Thackeray gave figures of crimes against women in BJP-ruled states including Uttarakhand, the home state of Koshyari.

    He stated that such “instructions” by the governor could stoke a new controversy and are damaging to the democratic Parliamentary procedures.

    Koshyari had recently written to the CM asking to convene a special session of the state legislature.

    In his latter, the CM said he had taken cognisance of Koshyari’s concerns regarding the safety of women.

    “I can understand your feelings for calling a special session of the Maharashtra Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka incident in Mumbai. Your soul is of a political worker. However, the instructions given by you could stoke a new controversy,” Thackeray wrote.

    A 34-year-old woman was allegedly raped inside a stationary tempo parked on the roadside in the Sakinaka area in Mumbai earlier this month.

    The accused, a 45-year-old man, brutalised the victim by inserting a rod in her private parts.

    The woman died during treatment at a hospital.

    “It is damaging to Parliamentary democratic procedures that governor also makes the same demand being made by those who are opposing the state government. The state is taking firm steps to curb such incidents,” the CM stated.

    “Uttarakhand, your home state, is also known as Devbhoomi. The government data shows that attacks on women have been increased by 150 per cent. Can a special session be called there?” Thackeray asked.

    He wrote that 14,229 women had gone missing in neighbouring Gujarat in the last two years.

    “The Gujarat police report says that at least 14 women daily face rape or sexual assault. Going by such high numbers, Gujarat would need at least a month-long session. Despite many attacks on women in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has not made any demand for a special session,” Thackeray stated.

    The Raj Bhavan and the Sena-led MVA government shares frosty relations as the governor has not yet approved a list of 12 persons sent by the state government for their nomination as Member of Legislative Council from the gubernatorial quota.

    Last year, the governor had written a letter to the CM demanding the immediate re-opening of places of worship and mockingly asked if Uddhav Thackeray had turned ‘secular’.

    The chief minister had responded by questioning the governor’s belief in secularism and said “Isn’t secularism a key component of the Constitution, by which you swore while taking oath as the state governor?” 

  • Maharashtra government will back Danve for Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train project: CM Uddhav Thackeray

    By PTI

    AURANGABAD: The Maharashtra government will extend full support if the Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve took the initiative for launching Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train project, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said here on Friday.

    He was speaking after performing ground-breaking ceremony for the planned new building of the Aurangabad zilla parishad.

    Danve, a BJP leader from Maharashtra, was also present.

    “We are talking about the welfare of people by keeping politics aside today, and people also expect the same. We have expectations from each other,” the chief minister said.

    “I give my word to Raosaheb Danve. If he takes initiative for the Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train, the state government will stand strongly with him at every step, because this project is our dream,” Thackeray said.

    The first bullet train project in the country will link Mumbai with Ahmedabad, he said, and added that “instead, it should come up between Mumbai and Nagpur.”

    The chief minister also visited the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC).

    Speaking to reporters there, he said politics should not come in the way of development.

    Referring to a remark by state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil that he should not be called a “former minister” any longer as the political situation in the state might change soon, Thackeray said, “I heard he is trying to enter one of the three parties in our (ruling) alliance.”

    On BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis’s statement that the Maharashtra government should reconsider its ‘decision’ not to invest in railway projects in the state, the chief minister said the state had not stopped giving its share.

    “The state is ready to give its share for Aurangabad-Ahmednagar, Pune-Nashik railway projects,” he said.

    On AURIC, the chief minister said the country should feel proud of such projects.

  • ‘Slap Thackeray’ remark: Union minister Narayan Rane appears before Raigad police

    By PTI

    ALIBAUG: Union minister Narayan Rane, who faces a case over his objectionable comment against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, appeared before the police in Raigad district on Monday as per a court order.

    The BJP leader arrived here, the headquarters of Raigad district located around 100km from Mumbai, at around 3 pm and went straight to the office of superintendent of police (SP). After sometime, Rane came out and told the waiting mediapersons that he appeared before the SP in accordance with an order given by a court at Mahad near here last month.

    He left the spot without speaking further with reporters. The Raigad BJP had put up hoardings in the coastal town to welcome Rane. Police personnel were also deployed at different spots in the town. Rane was arrested on August 25 for a comment about “slapping” Thackeray.

    He was granted bail hours later by the court at Mahad. A magistrate, while granting the Union minister bail, had directed him to appear before the SP on August 30 and September 13. However, Rane did not appear before the police on August 30 citing ill health.

  • Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray condemns Sakinaka rape-murder case; promises fast-track trial

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday termed the rape and murder of a woman in Mumbai’s Sakinaka as a “blot on humanity”, and promised a fast-track trial in the case.

    He asserted that the perpetrator would be punished severely.

    “The trial in the case will be done on a fast track and the victim, who succumbed to injuries today, will get justice,” Thackeray said in a statement.

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    The chief minister said he has discussed the case with state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil and Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale.

    “I have directed the authorities to expedite the investigation into the case,” he said.

    The woman, 34, died in a civic-run hospital in Mumbai the wee hours of Saturday a day after she was raped and brutalised with an iron rod in a stationary vehicle parked by the roadside at Sakinaka.

    A 45-year-old man has been arrested in this connection, police have said.

  • Sharad Pawar praises Uddhav Thackeray; says NCP committed to Gandhi-Nehru ideology

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar has praised Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a “soft-spoken person” who doesn’t back out when faced with responsibility.

    The former Union minister also averred that the Nationalist Congress Party may have differences with the Congress, but still swears by the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

    Speaking to Marathi news-portal `Mumbai Tak’, Pawar also stated that it was Sonia Gandhi who finally decided that the Congress could join hands with the Sena along with the NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

    “I have seen Uddhav Thackeray since his childhood. When he began overseeing the affairs of Shiv Sena, he followed his father’s (Bal Thackeray) guidelines. But when the responsibility of the party fell on him, there was some skepticism about his abilities,” Pawar said.

    “But the Sena won Mumbai civic polls under Uddhav’s leadership. After that it became clear that he may be a soft-spoken person but has the ability, and can shoulder responsibility,” the NCP chief said.

    “Under Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena has grown,” he added.

    The Congress and NCP have differences only over the style of functioning, said Pawar, who quit the `Grand Old Party’ in 1999 over leadership issues.

    “The NCP is committed to the ideology of Gandhi and Nehru,” he added.

    “Shiv Sena, too, was never a bitter critic of Congress. Bal Thackeray had supported Indira Gandhi for her decision to impose Emergency. In the elections after Emergency, Shiv Sena did not put up any candidate against the Congress,” Pawar pointed out.

    The NCP chief, who is considered by many as the chief architect of the MVA, said they were keeping a “close eye” on the differences which emerged between the Shiv Sena and its then ally BJP after the 2019 assembly polls results.

    “We then felt we need to speak to the Shiv Sena (Sena MP) Sanjay Raut took the initiative,” he said.

    Congress president Sonia Gandhi agreed to be part of the alliance after consulting leaders in her party, he added.

    “Rahul Gandhi was not in those discussions. Sonia Gandhi spoke to everyone in the Congress and then gave her nod,” Pawar said, when asked about reports that Rahul was against the idea of joining hands with the Sena.

  • Sharad Pawar meets Uddhav Thackeray, hands over cheque for CM’s relief fund

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s official residence `Varsha’ here.

    During the meeting that lasted for about an hour, Pawar handed over a cheque of Rs 2.36 lakh for the Chief Minister’s relief fund on behalf of the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, a renowned educational institute.

    The meeting sparked off speculation about the issues the two leaders, who are part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, might have discussed.

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    Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte was also present during the meeting.

    Pawar did not speak to the media while leaving.

    “As chairman of Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, I handed over a cheque worth Rs 2.36 lakh to CM Uddhav Thackeray for the CM relief fund. The fund is raised as one day salary by all the teachers and non-teaching staff of the Sanstha,” the NCP chief tweeted later.

    “I hope the fund would be helpful for the state’s ongoing measures to bring down COVID-19 cases,” he said.

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    The meeting took place against the backdrop of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiating a probe against NCP leader and former home minister Anil Deshmukh in an alleged money laundering case, and the central agency’s summons to Shiv Sena leader and minister Anil Parab in the same case.

    They could have also discussed the issue of appointment of 12 members to the Legislative Council from the governor’s quota, an NCP source said.

    Governor B S Koshyari and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government are at loggerheads over the pending appointments.