Chief minister Prith-viraj Chavan on Wedn-esday said that government employees do not want their offices to be shifted out of the Mantralaya because of a “mental block”.
Speaking about the availability of offices at other locations, the CM said that it was quite possible to utilise the available places, but added, “Psychologic-ally, people are closed to the idea of moving out. They want to work in the Mantralaya.”
“People who have been shifted to corporate offices are happy,” Mr Chavan said, hinting at the home department, which has been shifted to the World Trade Centre.
Fifteen days after the fire at the state secretariat, Mr Chavan was optimistic that things would slowly get back to normal.
“The reconstruction of the three affected floors is our top priority. The renovation work will be carried out taking into consideration all the safety norms,” the CM
said.
Speaking about retri-eving data and official documents destroyed in the fire, the CM said that no files or records were stored in 27 per cent of the area — conference halls, the CMO’s waiting room and such other places in the Mantralaya — affected in the fire.
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IRRIGATION ISSUE RESOLVED: DCM
Age Correspondent
Mumbai, July 4
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said that from now onwards, there would be better coordination between various departments of the state government in order to avoid any controversy in the near future The DCM was speaking on the issue of the recent controversy over the state’s actual capacity of irrigation in the last 10 years.
While the state economic survey claims that Maharashtra’s irrigation capacity has increased by only 0.1 per cent in the last 10 years, the irrigation department claims it has increased by more than five per cent. NCP’s irrigation minister Sunil Tatkare had made a presentation on the irrigation situation in the state on Tuesday. “After the presentation, almost everyone present in the cabinet was satisfied. There is no truth to the reports that the state’s irrigation capacity has only increased by 0.1 per cent. As far as the state government is concerned, the issue is closed,” Mr Pawar said on Wednesday.