Maharashtra moving to investment-based farming: CM

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, is completing two years in office on Monday (October 31). These 24 months have been marked by cruel drought, promises of mega investments and intermittent fights with ally Shiv Sena.

In an interview with BusinessLine at his official residence, Fadnavis said that the State government had sometimes faced with some insurmountable difficulties but every difficulty has been turned around into an opportunity. Excerpts:

Which was the biggest challenge faced by your government in the last two years?

In the last two years, drought and water scarcity was a huge challenge but the government managed to convert that into an opportunity for development. The Jalyukta Shivar programme of saving rain water by deepening and widening of streams, construction of cement and earthen stop dams and digging of farm ponds were implemented as a social movement, which resulted in 4,600 villages being made drought-free. By 2020, about 20,000 villages would be made drought-free. The programme also resulted in the increase in ground water table, which greatly supported the farmers.

What are the other support mechanisms being offered to the farmers in the State?

The crop insurance cover for farmers has been enhanced in a big way. In the last 15 years, farmers have received insurance payments of ₹4,700 crore but this year alone, they have received ₹4,200 crore. Today, in Marathwada, about 78 per cent of the farmers have been insured and across the state, insurance cover has only gone up for the farmers.

From 12 farmers availing themselves of crop insurance, it has increased to 90 lakh.

From relief and rehabilitation mode of helping farmers, the State government is moving to investment-based farming with a hike in expenditure on drip irrigation and agriculture pumps.

It would further enhance it by bringing newer technology such as sensors in the fields and real-time weather update.

But what about post-harvest processing in the State?

Today, the farmers are not getting the advantage because their products such as cotton are not processed within the State. For cotton, the government is developing an integrated value chain, which takes the cotton from the farm to convert it into fashionable garments within the state.

At Amravati in the Vidarbha region, an integrated textile park has been set up and it has received good response from the industry. Everything from raw cotton to final fabric is made at the park. In six months, we will climb the last leg of the value chain by using the fabric for making fashionable clothes. Similarly, we are also planning to set up processing industry for soyabean.

We are also delinking farmers from the Agriculture Produce Market Committee so that the farmers can get better rates for their produce. It has resulted in forming of farmer companies, which are giving a better rate to the farmers and cheaper prices to the consumers.

What is the status of various large ticket investments in Maharashtra?

In February, the Maharashtra government along with the Centre had held Make in India programme in Mumbai city. At the conclusion of the programme ₹8 lakh crore of MoUs were announced. Since the conclusion of the programme ₹1.5 lakh crore of investments have been made in Maharashtra.

Other big investments such as Foxconn are already in the pipeline. Foxconn had faced some problems with the Centre but those issues have been sorted out. For the semiconductors project of the Vedanta group, the land parcel has been finalised. Now, the company has to get its project approved by the Centre.

What is the status of the various large infrastructure projects planned for Mumbai and other cities of Maharashtra?

The Mumbai’s suburban railway network, which as been developed over the period of time, has a carrying capacity of 70 lakh passengers per day but on the other hand, the metro network, which has been approved by the State government, has a capacity of 80 lakh passengers.

In the last one-and-a-half years, work on over 100 route kilometres of metro lines has commenced. In the next five years, all metro networks would be operational with last mile connectivity provided by monorail and feeder bus system. In the next six months, all these systems would be integrated into a single ticket system.

The trans-harbour link project, which had run into multiple troubles, is also being revived. The process of RPF and RFQ has also been completed and soon the main contractor for the project would be decided.

The Nagpur-Mumbai super expressway is also being planned, which can help develop Maharashtra by leaps and bounds. It is a ₹34,000 crore project, which is not facing any financial constraints. It will integrate 24 districts of the State.

The Petroleum Ministry has promised to lay four major petroleum product pipelines, including LNG, below this expressway. It will open up a huge area of the State for development. The presence of LNG pipelines will attract a number of industries along the super expressway. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, which would be building the super expressway, has already securitised its assets of ₹50,000 crore for the project. Such financial engineering decisions would help raise large loans for the project.

The previous government was accused of massive corruption in the irrigation sector, which had resulted in inordinate delays in project execution. Therefore, what is being done to revive the projects?

Every project is being evaluated by two technical advisory committees. The committees are helping decide on the essential and non-essential aspects of the projects.

Nabard would be providing ₹13,000 crore loan and another ₹9,000 crore worth proposals have been sent to the Centre for approval. It will help us revive the stalled projects in the State.

Has BJP’s vision document for Maharashtra been fully implemented after elections?

After coming to power, the document was divided into various departments of the State government. For implementing that vision, Key Responsibility Areas for the departments were set and work was commenced. Today I can say with confidence that some of the goals in that vision have been fulfilled and some are still work in progress.

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