Collectors to be given more powers under District Business Reform Action Plan 2025: Fadnavis

Mumbai, Oct 31 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said district collectors will be given additional powers to strengthen business reforms under District Business Reform Action Plan 2025, which covers 154 reforms to be implemented between August 15, 2025, and August 14 next year.

Speaking at a review meeting on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) held at the Sahyadri Guest House, Fadnavis said a 'chintan shibir' will be organised for district collectors. Divisional meetings will be held and collectors will get more powers, the CM added.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Rajesh Kumar and senior officials, while divisional commissioners and district collectors participated through video conferencing, an official release said.

The Chief Minister said six divisional committees have been constituted to accelerate industrial development and they will submit their reports by December 31 this year.

The EoDB Reform Committee is headed by Nashik Divisional Commissioner Dr Praveen Gedam, while Konkan Divisional Commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Divisional Commissioner Jitendra Papalkar are focusing on industrial resource utilisation and land bank promotion, respectively.

Maharashtra has shown significant improvement in the EoDB 2024 assessment, completing 399 out of 402 reforms and achieving an implementation score of 99.25 per cent, it said.

The state was earlier recognised as an 'Achiever' in EoDB 2020-21 and as a 'Top Achiever' in EoDB 2022. The final results for EoDB 2024 will be announced on November 11.

Key focus areas under the reform plan include land and building permissions, labour reforms, utility and inspection systems, and regulatory simplification.

The state is also developing a comprehensive single-window platform, MAITRI 2.0, which will integrate modules for single sign-on, permit tracking, unified payments, dashboards, grievance redressal, and user feedback.

Fadnavis said Maharashtra has consistently remained among the top-performing states in the Government of India's Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) since 2015, reflecting its commitment to improving the ease of doing business and creating a transparent, industry-friendly environment. PTI MR BNM