Govt’s Vidarbha Backlog Claim Labeled a Blatant Lie by Activist Nagpur: Prominent Vidarbha statehood activist Nitin Ronghe has accused the Maharashtra government of spreading a “blatant falsehood” by claiming that the region’s irrigation backlog has been fully cleared. Ronghe, convener of Maha Vidarbha Janjagaran, criticized the state government’s assertion made in a written reply to the Assembly last month, arguing that the claim is a repetition of misleading information. He pointed out that the current chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, had previously opposed similar claims two decades ago. Ronghe was responding to the government’s reply on the status of long-defunct statutory development boards, which it claimed had been defunct since 2020 with reconstitution pending at the Centre. The government stated that the financial backlog for Vidarbha and Marathwada had been cleared by 2011, with 94% of the region’s physical irrigation backlog addressed. It also noted that Vidarbha’s share of development funds slightly exceeded its formula entitlement. Ronghe dismissed the government’s claim as a “half-truth,” using an analogy to illustrate his point. He compared the situation to a husband who promised his wife in 2011 to buy gold worth Rs25,000, which would have been approximately 10 grams of gold at that time. However, the husband delayed the purchase and eventually bought the gold years later, only to find that the same amount now fetched barely three grams. Ronghe argued that the government’s assertion that the 2011 financial backlog had been cleared is similarly flawed, as the value of funds has eroded over time.#maharashtra_government #devendra_fadnavis #nagpur_bench #nitin_ronghe #maha_vidarbha_janjagaran
