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Maharashtra government wakes up to dry spell

Swati Kulkarni in Bombay

The Democratic Front government has finally woken up to the fact that there have been no rains in Maharashtra for 22 days.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, instructed guardian ministers of all 35 districts to take stock of the situation and report back to the government.

Till August 4, 96 per cent sowing had been done in the kharif crop season. The lack of rains in the Konkan region resulted in the paddy crop turning yellow. In Marathwada, where farmers sowed cereals and pulses like moong, udit and soyabeen, the crops are on the verge of drying up.

The dry spell since July 12 has also forced the Maharashtra State Electricity Board to announce load-shedding. The MSEB is experiencing a shortfall of 1,000 mw to 1,200 mw due to inadequate rainfall, which has affected hydel power generation in the state and also reduced power allocations by central grids and closure of the BSES 500 mw generation unit.

The cabinet meeting saw the government issuing ordinances and scrapping laws passed by the previous Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government.

The government announced an ordinance to regulate and control private coaching classes.The move is being seen in reply to private coaching classes's attempts to corner publicity over the success of secondary and higher secondary toppers. Private coaching classes will now have to register with the government, they will have to seek prior approval of their fee structure and course syllabus and will not be able to advertise their achievements.

Failure to comply with the norms will invite a penalty of Rs 50,000 or one year's imprisonment.

In what is being seen as a major concession, the state government agreed to scrap the 1997 Act, passed by the Sena-BJP government, to regulate the admission process to the pre-primary section. The Act had banned schools from taking interviews of parents and their children for kindergarten, charging exorbitant fees, admissions by lots and books for nursery.

The Act had been opposed by minority educational institutions.

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine government, protect co-operative societies, decided to repeal amendments made by the previous government which provided for moving no-confidence motions against society chairmen by simple majority, instead of the earlier provision of two-thirds majority and continuance of old board of directors if societies fail to hold internal elections on time.

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