Report on the demands posed by the OBC castes to be presented to Cabinet soon: Chhagan Bhujbal

State Consumer Affairs Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, and other members from the government, on Friday, October 30, held a meeting to discuss the issues related to the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation. Officials came to a conclusion that a report should be prepared to focus on the implementation of this reservation, related concessions and other benefits which are ought to be provided by the government. This would also help the Cabinet understand the problems are plan effective action for the people from the respective class.

The meeting was held in the presence of Cabinet Sub-Committee, at the Ministry. Officials also discussed that a provision should be made for the same in the budget which points out about the economic, social and educational development of other backward classes. This would be done keeping the population in mind, and the government should arrange for the provision of funds for Mahajyoti Sanstha, thereby help students with their educational needs and hostels in every district across Maharashtra.

Further, the members decided that along with the pending scholarships of the students from the other backward class deprived castes and funds allocated for the year 2020-21, should be made available to the meritorious students. Besides this, the process to ease admissions in English medium schools should also be considered a priority

Currently, the state offers no separate housing scheme for other backward classes, and keeping this in mind, necessary funds should be made available and implemented effectively under the Gharkul Yojana.

Moreover, the state should also look at the pending promotion of other backward class officers and employees in various departments of the State Government. Other states have decided to give promotions to the group of people keeping the court's decision in mind, however, steps are yet to be taken by the Maharashtra Government.

Present at this meeting were Chairman of the sub-committee Chhagan Bhujbal, members of the committee and other backward Bahujan Welfare Minister Vijay Vadettiwar, Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil, Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod, Additional Chief Secretary of Finance and Planning Debashish Chakraborty, Principal Secretary of Finance Rajgopal Deora, others JP Gupta, Principal Secretary, Backward Bahujan Welfare Department and officials from Social Justice and General Administration Department.