Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari greeted people on the Republic Day on Thursday and appealed to everyone to make the state strong and developed. Speaking at a function held in Mumbai on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day, the governor listed out various programmes undertaken by the government of Maharashtra for its development and to make the state a one trillion dollar economy.
"My government is working to create a progressive and developed Maharashtra by taking all elements of the society together. I appeal to all to come together and resolve to create a new and strong Maharashtra,” he said. Elaborating on the development works taken up in the state, Koshyari said out of the total 701-km-long Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeary Maharashtra Samruddhi Express Highway between Mumbai and Nagpur, the government recently opened for the public 521 kilometre of the stretch connecting Nagpur to Shirdi.
"Twenty four districts are attached to this expressway," he added. “The work on Metro routes in Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Thane region is being done at a greater pace and quality work is ensured," the governor said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the Metro lines 2A (which connects Dahisar-East with D N Nagar) and 7 (connecting Andheri-East with Dahisar-East) in Mumbai as part of the second phase of this public transportation system.
"The Metro routes 2A and 7 are interconnected and as a result, Mumbai got its first Metro network,” Koshyari said. The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link project, coastal road and various other developmental projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region had been speeded up, he said. The governor also mentioned about the state government's efforts to fill vacant posts in the state.
“For providing sufficient employment opportunities to the youth, 75,000 vacant posts are being filled up and the process has just started. Also, 18,331 posts of police constables will be filled,” he said. Besides, 46,154 candidates were given employment in various companies, corporate houses and industries in December last year, he said.
“An increment of Rs 10,000 has been made in the pension of freedom fighters and now they get a pension of Rs 20,000 (per month). As many as 5,406 freedom fighters have benefited from this decision,” the governor said. All the people who struggled during the period of Emergency have been honoured and a scheme in this regard has been started again, he said.