

MUMBAI: "I am the chief minister of all the people of Maharashtra. Nobody should be excluded from state policy," said Prithviraj Chavan amidst rousing cheer from the state's transgender community.

In a possible first for any CM in the country, Chavan spent an evening interacting with the state's transgender population at YB Chavan Auditorium on Thursday. Chavan says his government will work towards setting up a transgender welfare board and initiating sensitization programmes for policemen on the issues facing the third gender. He has also promised to work towards an art academy for transgender individuals, awards for talented artistes from the community, funding for cinema on transgender and projects supporting health and education for Maharashtra's third sex.

Members of the community narrated stories of abuse and neglect before the CM. The event was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme, the state department of woman and child development and organizations working with transgenders, was held in light of the state's newly proposed women' policy that included two chapters on transgender for the first time.

