Shinde asks MITRA to focus on key sectors to make maha trillion-dollar economy

Mumbai: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has asked the Maharashtra Institute of Transformation (MITRA) to concentrate on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, environment and energy sectors to achieve the aim of making the State a trillion-dollar economy. Shinde underlined the significance of these sectors in guaranteeing general prosperity of the State as well as the well-being of its citizens, a statement issued by the CM’s office on Monday said. The State government set up MITRA on the lines of Niti Aayog in 2022. In a meeting of the think tank held on Monday, Shinde launched the Institutional Capacity Building Project, which provides funding of $188 million from the World Bank to support district-level development in Maharashtra. He also launched the Maharashtra Responsive Development Program, which receives $400 million from the World Bank to control floods in the Krishna Bhima basin, particularly in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

The CM emphasised the initiative would be crucial to Maharashtra’s economic progress toward a trillion-dollar economy, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of a five trillion-dollar national economy. “The ‘MITRA’ think tank is doing commendable work, particularly in addressing supplementary issues in Mumbai and the metropolitan region, as well as focusing on climate change, innovative agricultural practices, and promoting organic farming,” he said.

Additionally, in order to encourage organic farming, the chief minister instructed the MITRA researchers to focus on climate change and fresh agricultural experimentation, the statement said. In an effort to expedite their completion and help the farming community, the government also granted Revised Administrative Approval to 123 irrigation projects, it said. Additionally, the state has pledged to produce 9,200 megawatts of solar energy to help the agriculture industry, it said. During the meeting, the MRDP implementation cell and the Maharashtra Strengthening Institutional Capabilities in Districts for Enabling Growth Project (MahaSTRIDE) implementation proposal from MITRA were approved. To guarantee the statistical data used for the state’s development efforts, the State Data Policy was also approved, the statement said.

Shinde emphasised the value of cutting-edge initiatives like HinduhridaysamratBalasaheb Thackeray SamruddhiMahamarg (Mumbai-Nagpur expressway), which has shortened the travel time, and stated that industries should now be shifted to underdeveloped areas like Marathwada and Vidarbha.