Ajit Pawar

The current lockdown, imposed to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, will be in force till May 3.

Pawar's remark comes a day after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced that some industrial and commercial activities will resume from April 20, in keeping with the norms put in place to fight the pandemic.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, also decided to set up two committees to recommend steps for the economic revival of the state.

The state government has decided to allow restaurants and eateries to keep only their kitchens open, to ease the burden on people during the curfew, Pawar said.

In his reply to budget demands, Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, also commented on BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar's startling revelation in the house on March 12 it was his party that ditched the one-time ally Shiv Sena last year and that it was a mistake.

The main opposition party said the budget, the first by the Shiv Sena-led government, does not have provisions to make farmers debt-free as promised by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) when it took office in November last year.

Pawar, also the finance minister, made the remarks in Thackeray's presence after the former presented the state's budget for 2020-21 in the assembly.

Ajit Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said an amount of Rs 2 lakh will be deposited in bank accounts of farmers whose dues were more than Rs 2 lakh till September 30, 2019.

It indicates that Maharashtra is lagging behind in sectors such as industries and services while employment generation too was poor during the five years of Devendra Fadnavis-led regime, Pawar said.

There was no reason for the state to revert to the old pension scheme, said the Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

Addressing the convention of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) here, he also ruled out any need to bring a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) in the state Legislative Assembly.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said the government will give a guarantee of Rs 200 crore for the state marketing federation so that it could raise funds for tur procurement.

On the occasion of Shivaji's birth anniversary on Wednesday, Pawar visited the fort, located in Junnar tehsil, and paid tributes to the Maratha warrior king.

The loan waiver scheme announced by the Shiv Sena- NCP-Congress government after coming to power last year has a cap of Rs 2 lakh.

The earlier BJP-led government had announced that a Hyperloop would be built between Pune and Mumbai which will reduce the travel time between the two cities drastically.

A bench of Justices S B Shukre and Madhav Jamdar was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking probe in the multi-crore scam to be transferred from the state Anti-Corruption Bureau to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The NCP leader also said in the affidavit filed that there is no requirement for the present investigation to be handed over to the CBI or the ED.

Pawar gave these instructions during a review meeting of the Department of Registration and Stamps, an official statement said.

'We will try to complete the work by April 14, 2022...the government will ensure there is no shortage of funds for the project,' Pawar told reporters here.

The NCP leader also paid respects to the late Dalit icon and architect of the Constitution at the Chaityabhoomi here before visiting the Indu Mills premises in Dadar area.