MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has starting acting on many schemes aimed at the welfare of minorities , especially Muslims, with assembly polls a few months away. The government had announced 5% reservations for Muslims in jobs and education.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan recently laid the foundation stone for a Haj House in Aurangabad. It will save Haj pilgrims the ordeal of travelling to Mumbai before they undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Minority affairs minister Arif Khan iterated the demand for opening Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) off-campus centre in Maharashtra, at the ceremony. “The government will announce it soon, as the plot for the centre has been identified, and few clearances are awaited,” Khan told TOI. He added that the government would soon grant at least 15% reservations to unani doctors (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery) in state medical services. Another move to accelerate loan schemes to minorities is the change of guard at the Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation.

The government relieved MLA Amin Patel of the chairman’s post and appointed educationist Javed Shroff. “I had requested the chief minister to relieve me of the post a year ago. This year, we disbursed loans of Rs 75 crore among 18,750 applicants from the state,” Patel said. Shroff said he would ensure that more deserving applicants get business loans from the corporation.

