Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday chaired a meeting of legislators of the ruling coalition on the issue of reservation for the Maratha community.
At the meeting, which lasted for one-and-a-half hours, Shinde informed the legislators of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about steps initiated by the government to fulfil the demand.
The Chief Minister highlighted that all the district magistrates (DM) of the state have been instructed to ensure coordination in allotment of Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Marathas.
Notably, this was one of the major demands of the Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil.
Shinde further said that the government has extended the exercise of searching for the records of the Kunbi community. It was earlier restricted to eight states.
The government has expanded the scope of a three-member committee that was constituted to formulate guidelines for allotting caste certificates.
He added that instructions have also been passed to increase the working hours of the committee and the required personnel for it will also be provided by the government.
The state government will appoint an IAS officer to coordinate with all the DMs and submit a progress report every week.
Shinde also informed the legislators that the government has decided to seek help from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics to speed up the work of the state Backward Classes Commission.
He also asked the MLAs to take the government’s decision among the people in their constituencies to avoid backlash in the state.
Many MLAs were present in Mumbai for the last few days due to violent clashes over Maratha quota demand.
Many of them also staged a protest at Vidhan Bhavan (Maharashtra’s state Assembly) and Mantralaya (state’s administrative headquarters) for the last two days.
A few of them also offered their resignation over the demands of the Maratha quota.