Special cabinet meet in Ahilyadevi's birthplace clears Rs5,500 crore for temples' restoration
Pune: Projects worth over Rs5,500 crore — mostly for renovation and restoration of holy places like Tulja Bhavani, Jyotiba, Trimbakeshwar and Mahalakshmi temples — were cleared from the special cabinet held on Tuesday at the Maratha warrior queen Ahilyadevi Holkar 's birthplace, Chondi village in Ahilyanagar district, on the occasion of her tricentenary birth year.The govt approved Rs681 crore for the conservation and renovation of the Ahilyadevi Holkar memorial in Chondi. "The cabinet meeting in Chondi is an initiative of state govt to honour the contribution of Ahilyadevi Holkar. The govt will take several initiatives throughout the tricentenary year. Her memorial will be renovated in such a manner that several generations will derive inspiration from it," Fadnavis said after the cabinet meeting.The cabinet also approved the development plans for various temples, pending for some time. It includes Rs1,865 crore for Tulja Bhavani temple, Rs259 crore for Jyotiba temple, Rs275 crore for Trimbakeshwar temple, Rs1,445 crore for Mahalakshmi temple, Rs829 crore for Mahurgad holy place and Rs147 crore for the renovation of all Ashtavinayak Ganapati temples.Fadnavis said, "Ahilyadevi made efforts to restore the temples destroyed by invaders. Taking inspiration from her, our govt is attempting to renovate temples in the state and that is why the cabinet approved projects worth Rs5,503 crore for restoration and renovation of temples (and Ahilyadevi Holkar memorial)," Fadnavis said.For the first time ever, a special cabinet was held in a rural part of the state on Tuesday. Along with the cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and govt departments' officials travelled to Chondi village. Chief minister Fadnavis, both the deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, along with other cabinet ministers, visited the Ahilyadevi Holkar memorial before the cabinet meeting and paid tribute to her.The chief minister announced a new govt medical college would be set up in Ahilyanagar and named after Ahilyadevi. He said, "Our govt has announced the setting up of at least one govt medical college in each district. In the last tenure of Mahayuti, we could set up 10 colleges in two-and-a-half years. Only Ahilyanagar district was left without a medical college. Today (Tuesday), we have given approval for the college in the district."The cabinet also decided to provide education to 10,000 students from the Dhangar community under the Yashwant Vidyarthi scheme in reputed schools. "The govt has decided to set up one hostel each for boys and girls from the Dhangar community in every division of the state. In the first phase, these hostels will be set up in Pune and Nagpur," the chief minister added.
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