Pawar praises Bhujbal for post-fire job

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday lauded Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for his handling of the post-fire situation in Mantralaya by leading from the front and taking quick decisions to normalise the functioning of the administration.

MPCC spokesman Anant Gadgil told reporters that Chavan has silenced his critics, who have panned him for being slow in decision-making.

He said the front side of the building was painted in two days and the first three floors of the main structure and the entire annexe was readied for use on Monday itself.

"He ensured that the senior bureaucracy worked day and night to restore normalcy in the administration. Chavan began functioning from Mantralaya's first floor to send out a reassuring message to the people. The national tricolour, which was safely lowered by the GAD staff amid the flames destroying the top four floors, was hoisted on Sunday itself and the emblem was cleaned," Gadgil said.

He said additional vacant spaces in the vicinity of Mantralaya were acquired in two days and the process of shifting the departments and reconstruction of files was already underway. Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party supremo and Union Agriculture Minister

Sharad Pawar had called PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal in Monday and congratulated him for the work done by his department in swift restoration work.