“Transforming Maharashtra with Fadnavis”

Collective inputs from over 20,000 Maharashtra Citizens on
“What Maharashtra Needs”
(Key Issues, Root Causes and Proposed Solutions)
December 2, 2014

Executive Summary
Transforming Maharashtra with Fadnavis is an on online community of over 20,000 Maharashtra citizens who are collectively giving inputs on What Maharashtra Needs with detailed views on various subjects including Issues, Root Causes and Solutions. The community was started by the BJP Communication Cell before elections and quickly grew in size to become a collective voice. The members of the community include citizens with various backgrounds ranging from farmers to home makers and from small business owners to professionals and CEOs.
It is suggested that the Government of Maharashtra join this community at the earliest to stay connected with the citizens and drive public participation and engagement of citizens for effective Governance of Maharashtra.

Summary of What Maharashtra Needs
1. Electricity should be made cheaper
2. Corrupt and criminal politicians should be suspended
3. Corruption should be eliminated through transparent processes and systems
4. Tourism should be given a boost
5. Safety for women, children and senior citizens
6. Better hygiene and sanitation facilities in Maharashtra (towns and villages)
7. Availability of year-round safe drinking water
8. Good road infrastructure
9. Ports should be developed along the coastline
10. Uninterrupted 24 hours power supply
11. Business friendly laws to boost business activity
12. Long term vision to make Maharashtra into a technology and innovation hub
13. Rain water harvesting
14. Better network of local trains
15. Better education for children from economically backward classes
16. Reforms in the police department
17. Better healthcare facilities
18. Improved public transport
19. Freedom from toll taxes on every road
20. Efficient & transparent working in government offices

Corruption in Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Corruption in getting government documentation like ration card, driving license, property registration etc.
2. Bribe to traffic police to prevent ‘challans’
3. Corruption in the tendering process
4. Corruption on toll booths
5. Large corruption based nexus between corporator, contractor and municipality
6. Rules and regulations not clear to the general public
7. People look for shortcuts to get government documentations
8. People are afraid of the state police since the laws are not clear
9. Lack of online availability of the government departments
10. The entire system is not user friendly and hence leaves scope for corruption
11. Touts and middlemen encourage corruption
12. No proper vigilance system to check corruption

13. Opaque tendering system
14. Lack of government processes and mechanisms to keep a check on the functioning of the toll booths
15. Political parties favour contractors who contribute to their party funds

Law and Order in Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. The police is unfriendly
2. Image of the judges is not clean in public eyes
3. Registering a FIR is tough
4. Caste and the political party workers create law & order problem
5. The political parties appear to be way above the police department
6. The ‘under world’ is a big problem
7. Corruption in recruitment process
8. Policemen ask for money even for passport verification
9. Shopkeepers need to pay ‘hafta’
10. Corruption & favouritism in recruitment
11. Unchecked open corruption in police department
12. Outdated weapons for police

Solutions:
1. The entire state should be made corruption free
2. Person giving or accepting bribes should be prosecuted immediately
3. Police should be given latest technology and weapons
4. All the police personnel should undergo customer service training
5. The process of registering an FIR should be made simple.
6. Online filing of FIR should be considered
7. Law enforcement should quick. Punishment intensity should be high when proven guilty
8. Create a redressal/grievances reporting mechanism which is open, transparent, time bound and focused on resolutions
9. Policemen need to be better paid so that they don’t get enticed to take bribes
10. CCTV cameras should be installed across the city
11. Political parties should be given a mandate to stop their workers from creating chaos in public places
12. Underworld should be eradicated
13. The recruitment process should be automated

Garbage Management in Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Not enough dustbins in public areas
2. Garbage is burnt on roads which possesses health hazards
3. Garbage dumps are open creating a foul smell in nearby areas
4. Garbage overflows the collection bins
5. No segregation of wet and dry garbage
6. Every building does not have a garbage disposal system of its own
7. Citizens' mentality of littering public places is a major issue
8. Government has no proper arrangement to sort out plastic and non-plastic garbage
9. People utilize the vacant places available near buildings or vacant plots to throw garbage
10. Municipal workers lack proper equipment to collect garbage, especially in semi urban and rural areas
11. Poor and illiterate people either have no means to dispose garbage or do not know why they should not throw garbage around the places where they live

Solutions:
1. Garbage must be segregated at the source , i.e. domestic/commercial/Industrial level
2. Kitchen sinks with a pulveriser unit should be introduced
3. Households should be educated on how to make manure with the kitchen waste
4. Steep fine should be imposed on throwing garbage in undesignated areas
5. More dustbins should be installed in public areas
6. Garbage should be picked up from the bins by the corporation at fixed time everyday
7. Separate bins should be installed for wet and dry waste
8. People should be educated on segregating wet and dry waste
9. Wet Garbage can either be used to make manure or compost gas or any other useful method to reuse
10. It should be made mandatory for big societies to have garbage treatment plants of their own
11. Public awareness campaigns about garbage management/ littering the streets should be done. People should be educated about the hazard of garbage and spreading of diseases
12. Municipal worker in town as well as rural areas should be provide modern equipment to collect garbage
13. Large furnaces should be built to dispose the dry garbage
14. The truck which comes to collect garbage can be installed with a high temperature furnace itself
15. The municipal workers should be made answerable to this fact
16. Job of garbage collection should be outsourced and the private contractor should charge a nominal fee to the residents

Doing Business in Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Sales tax in Maharashtra is very high compared to the neighbouring states
2. Too many clearances required from different departments to start a new business
3. Political influence seems to be mandatory if you need things done
4. Any Government department you go to, nothing moves unless you grease the palms of the officials
5. Licensing policies are not known and lack of transparency leads to the middle men earning a lot out of it
6. Labour Union problem
7. Financial aid from the government reaches people who don’t even need it
8. Octroi should be abolished
9. Too many tolls in Mumbai hampers transportation cost
10. Labour unions create a lot of hindrance to smooth working
11. Presence of too many archaic, irrelevant business laws which not only increase complexity, but also increase scope for corruption
12. Too often, properties are destroyed in riots, political agitations, etc.,
13. Lack of coordination between government departments

Solutions:
1. Corruption should be completely eradicated
2. An one-stop online approval system should be developed to get permissions to start a new business
3. Exemptions should be given by the Government to budding entrepreneurs
4. Government should put up a site which gives all the relevant laws permissions licenses etc. required for a business
5. Different taxes should be abolished and GST should be introduced
6. Tax filling should be online which reduce the time, bribe etc.
7. Young SMEs should be given land, electricity and water at subsidy rate
8. Toll tax should be taken off
9. Amendments should be made to the old laws according to new business requirements
10. Police should be given a free hand to control the situation like riots etc.

Job Creation in Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Not enough jobs for the youth
2. Huge bribery machinery at all levels to secure government jobs
3. Not enough professional guidance available to get into a particular sector
4. Education not providing enough employable skills to the youth
5. Lack of job opportunities in rural areas
6. Lack of infrastructure
7. A sizable part of the manufacturing industry has moved out of Maharashtra due to high operational costs, affecting the job scenario
8. Too much relying on the service sector to create jobs
9. Lack of adequate business funding and opportunities for rural youth
10. Less opportunities for rural women to start home-based businesses
11. No encouragement for self-employment by government by giving loans/cheap land/training of tech use.

Solutions:
1. A strong anti-corruption law should be implemented
2. Strict vigilance should be practiced to curb state government officials seeking bribes from job seekers
3. The number of permissions required to start a business must be reduced
4. Right infrastructure should be developed to support new industries
5. Government vacancies should be visible on job portals
6. The Employment Exchange Scheme of the government should be revamped
7. Free skill development programs should be conducted for the youth
8. Everybody should be given equal opportunity irrespective of their caste, creed or community
9. Rural areas should be developed to create self-employment
10. After high school, the education should be practical and skill based
11. Syllabus to be made more practical & less theoretical
12. More educational institutes & professional courses to be introduced in rural areas
13. Increase opportunities for youth to manufacture quality goods in Maharashtra
14. Package needed for industrial revival of Maharashtra by enabling/building more roads, power, and infrastructure
15. Introduce skill development centres for women in all districts of Maharashtra
16. Revival of the cooperative movement in Maharashtra

Issues with Rural Maharashtra

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Supply of electricity is erratic
2. Scarcity of water
3. Really bad roads
4. Schools are literally non-existent
5. Unemployment rate is high
6. Lack of modern technology
7. Middlemen making money off the hard work of the farmers
8. Farmers remain poor in spite of excellent produce year over year
9. The rate of farmer suicides is on the rise
10. Old mechanisms of farming
11. Many scams happen even in rural India like the irrigation scam
12. Lack of sanitation facilities
13. Smokeless chulas still a dream
14. Population growth rate is high
15. Still following old laws & rules to resolve crimes
16. No technical support to panchayats
17. No encouragement from the government to small scale industries and entrepreneurship
18. Government schemes not getting implemented
19. Medical facilities are lacking

Solutions:
1. General awareness campaigns should be done in villages to get them up to date with the latest happenings
2. People still practicing ‘Zamindari’ system should be punished
3. Farmers should be freed from the clutches of money lenders by setting up chains of Nationalized banks in rural areas
4. Planning committees should be established. They should be made accountable for the plans and budgets, and should be monitored on a periodic basis
5. Solar plants should be established in rural areas to guarantee cheap and continuous supply of electricity
6. Special Economic Zones should be created around villages to boost employment and reduce the mass exodus to towns
7. Entrepreneurship should be encouraged and supported by Government schemes
8. Villages should be connected with towns through concrete/tar roads
9. Government should announce more schemes to get irrigation water to draught
affected areas
10. Corporates/NGOs should be encouraged to set up schools in rural areas to provide quality education to children
11. Technology should be used bridge the gap between towns and villages
12. Special markets should be set up where the farmers can sell their produce directly to the buyer and bypass the middlemen
13. Toilet should be built for each household of rural Maharashtra
14. Biogas plants should be set up and used as cooking fuel
15. Special education on family planning should be imparted in villages
16. Panchayats should be empowered and introduced to modern ways for running the show
17. Government hospitals should be opened in villages across Maharashtra

Lack of Affordability of Housing

Issues and Root Causes:
1. Property rates have sky rocketed in Mumbai and a common man cannot even dream of owning a house there
2. One person owns multiple properties which lead to less availability
3. Builders don’t deliver on time and make a fool of the common man
4. Cost of land and materials is high
5. Interest rates on loans is very high
6. There is ‘land grabbing’ by local mafia/politicians
7. Getting clearances to build a house is very costly
8. High rates of property registration

Solutions:
1. Low cost housing should be developed for the middle/lower middle class
2. Corruption at the property registration office should be eradicated
3. Land mafia should be banished
4. Interest on housing loans should be reduced
5. The prices of building material should be regulated
6. Builders should be penalized if they do not deliver as per the contract
7. There should be a cap on the number of properties a person can hold
8. Building clearances should be hastened up
9. Develop MAHADA strongly from all sides as per the private builders organization
10. Stamp duty should be nominal
11. Outskirts of the city have land available. It should be converted and reserved for low cost budget housing