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Our Bureau

Mumbai , Aug 16

THE Maharashtra's Minister for Excise and Environment, Mr Ganesh Naik, has a panacea for all the financial ills that plague the State Government.

Mr Naik has said that prime property owned by the Government in Mumbai be put up for sale.

This includes the Aarey Milk Colony and the Film City, both at Goregaon, the Mahalaxmi Race Course, the Worli dairy and the Vikroli land under litigation with Godrej Industries.

If these five properties are put up for sale, the current prices will fetch the Maharashtra Government nothing short of Rs 2,00,000 crore, the Minister said. Currently, the Maharashtra Government's overall debt stands at Rs 1,00,000 crore.

The remaining half from the sales proceeds can be used for budgetary requirement such as infrastructure, school education and health, he said.

Speaking to the newspersons at the Secretariat on Tuesday, Mr Naik said that he would put the idea in front of the Cabinet and seek its views.

Mr Naik said: "The Aarey dairy and Film city can function outside the Mumbai city very well. Over the year the Aarey dairy has become defunct so what is the use of over 2,000 acre of Aarey land? The Mahalaxmi racecourse can function smoothly outside Mumbai. The sale of land can be executed through a global tender".

Mr Naik said he was aware that his views were controversial; still they needed to be publicly discussed and debated. He claimed that the Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr Sharad Pawar, also subscribed to these views.

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