Mumbai, Sep 10 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, on Wednesday, warned that the Maratha community members should not be given fake Kunbi caste certificates.

He also added that the OBCs will be hit hard due to the government resolution (GR) issued on September 2 for the implementation of Hyderabad Gazetteer to provide Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas.

Minister Bhujbal, who on Tuesday appealed to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to withdraw the GR providing Kunbi status to Marathas, on Wednesday, at the meeting of cabinet subcommittee chaired by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Now that the GR has been issued, we are all helpless. If the issue is not resolved, we will go straight to court.”

Minister Bhujbal, who is the founder of Samata Parishad, claimed that the Maratha community has been given a large amount of funds in the last few years.

He expressed regret in the meeting that although there are many castes among the OBCs, the funds provided are quite less.

“OBCs have received very little funds in the last 20 years, but the Maratha community has received a lot of funds in the last two to three years,” he said.

Minister Bawankule told reporters that the cabinet subcommittee was of the view that Maratha caste should not be included in the OBC category and the Maratha community in general should not be given a Kunbi caste certificate.

It was also suggested that 100 per cent scholarship should be implemented for OBC students in vocational courses, the Minister said.

The number of scholarships provided to talented boys and girls for higher education abroad should be increased from 75 to 200 students, he added.

Reservation for the OBC category should be implemented in the housing scheme being constructed by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), he said.

Minister Bawankule said that the cabinet subcommittee also made a strong case for launching schemes proposing 100 per cent concession for OBC, SC, ST and Special Backward Class farmers like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

A provision of Rs 1,000 crore should be made to the OBC Economic Development Corporation, he added.

Minister Bawankule said, “There will be no injustice to OBCs; no false records. OBCs fear that injustice will be done to them. But, nothing like that will happen. There are Kunbi records, only they will get the certificates as per the government resolution and for that they will have to get the certificate, Kunbi relationship and Gram Samiti, Tehsildar level committee report. After the genealogy is verified, the certificates will be issued only after the completion of all the documents. Only the Sub-Divisional officers need to take care that there are no false records, and all the members of the sub-committee expressed their expectation that the government should proceed as per the government decision.”

He added that there are 353 castes in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community.

These castes should not be treated unfairly, he said.

“The OBC department has yet to receive Rs 3,688 crores of funds and due to this, scholarships worth Rs 1,200 crore have been stopped. They should be put on track. Proposals were placed before the Cabinet Sub-Committee to make hostel construction and necessary spaces available for government offices. The members also expressed the expectation that while issuing Maratha Kunbi certificates, they should not be issued on the basis of wrong documents,” he added.

Minister Pankaja Munde also expressed the hope that the Maratha community is not socially backward and that certificates regarding reservation should be given only after checking the accuracy of the documents.

Minister Bawankule said that the subcommittee has suggested that a scheme should be prepared to distribute loans to the youth of the OBC community on the lines of Annasaheb Patil Arthik Magas Vikas Mahamandal to enable them to get employment and do business.

Along with this, it has also been suggested that the recommendations made by the previous cabinet subcommittee led by Minister Bhujbal should be presented in the next subcommittee meeting.

–ANS

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