A revised staffing structure comprising 39,722 posts was approved for the water resources department, alongside changes to regional offices to support the management of Maharashtra’s expanded irrigation network.
According to the government, the state’s irrigated area increased from 45 lakh hectares at the end of 2016 to 58 lakh hectares by the end of 2025.
The restructuring provides for posts for 1,450 irrigation branch offices and 15 executive engineer-level posts across five irrigation corporations. Three specialist cadres covering land acquisition, agriculture and social change will be introduced, while certain existing posts will be consolidated into a new irrigation assistant cadre.
The cabinet approved the continuation of the Matoshri Gram Samruddhi Shet-Panand Raste Yojana through coordination with other schemes, including the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar & Ajeevika Mission.
Works under the rural access-road programme may also receive funding through District Planning Committees. The programme has been recognised as a district-level scheme, with a state-level committee authorised to resolve implementation difficulties.
Ministers also cleared amendments to Maharashtra’s public-private partnership policy covering project scrutiny, preliminary approvals, proposal documents, transaction structures and bidding procedures.
Other decisions included financial assistance for the Malharrao Holkar Nomadic and De-notified Tribes Cooperative Spinning Mill at Shirur Tajband in Latur district’s Ahmedpur taluka, and the transfer of 289 hectares at Raver in Dhule district to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation for expansion.
The cabinet approved merging the Junior Administrative Officer and Assistant Administrative Officer cadres in Zilla Parishads into a single Assistant Administrative Officer cadre at the S-14 pay level.
It also cleared amendments to the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University Act, 2014, granting the Chancellor authority to remove the Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
With PTI inputs
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