Mumbai: MNS president Raj Thackeray on Friday released the party's manifesto for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, promising to usher in the "Nashik model of development" with a focus on better urban governance. The manifesto highlights the decentralisation of industries at the district level to create employment opportunities and proposes for local technical education institutes to provide manpower to local industries.
The party also proposes to make Nashik in north Maharashtra, where it was in power in the local body for six years, the hub of agricultural exports. Maharashtra should get the status of a "special industrial state", and the party will endeavour to raise these issues in the Parliament.
Notably, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is contesting only 125 out of 288 seats in the state assembly polls, while any party or alliance needs 145 seats to win the election. The party claimed the day it comes to power in the state would be the last day for new slum settlements.
The manifesto also emphasised the model of development in Nashik, where it controlled the municipal corporation from 2012 to 2017. The party has proposed direct benefit transfer instead of the public distribution system so that people have a choice to buy food grains from the open market.
The MNS has promised affordable housing and said the government should carry out slum redevelopment. It has also promised priority for police personnel in government housing like MHADA, free housing and government jobs for project-affected people (PAPs). The party has proposed dumping grounds outside cities and underground parking.
On the transport front, the party has proposed a separate railway zone for Maharashtra and a compartment reserved for women travelling with children. The party has proposed to make Maharashtra the mecca of science, promised to take steps to promote Marathi and set up an ideal Marathi residential school in the state.
It has also promised to set up the world's biggest library named after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. As per the manifesto, the party also plans to declare the Sahyadri mountain range as a biodiversity hotspot.
