Uddhav visits Mantralaya after two years, reviews key projects

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday visited the Mantralaya after two years. During his visit, he toured different departments, interacted with the staff and reviewed implementation of a number of development projects in the state.

During the pandemic and later after his spine surgery, Thackeray was operating from his Matoshree and Varsha residences which was criticised by the BJP. However, ruling Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress had defended Thackeray’s move to operate from his residence claiming that it had not halted the government functioning.

Uddhav held meetings with the senior officers and asked them to regularly review the ambitious projects in order to ensure their effective implementation and timely completion. He said he would personally review these schemes and projects every week. Some of the key projects included, the Mumbai Coastal Road, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Mumbai Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg and Metro rail projects. He stressed that the administration needs to pay adequate attention on a few projects which are nearing completion.

The Chief Minister’s Office in a release said that BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal has informed that 52 per cent of the work of the coastal road has been completed and it was moving ahead per schedule. The project will be completed November 2023.

Thackeray also asked the officials to focus on the implementation of Panchasutri (five points) of development announced by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar during annual budget for 2022-23.

Thackeray further reviewed the functioning of the information technology department saying that its role is important for implementation of tele-medicine facility announced in the annual budget.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he was happy that the CM visited Mantralaya and held meetings.

“I have seen that CMs in various states operate from their residences and take decisions. There is a full fledged administrative set up at CM’s residence. Similar set up is there at Varsha. The functioning of the state government had not come to a halt when the CM operated from his residence. He cleared the files and took timely decisions,’’ Pawar added.