Mumbai

The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved a legal amendment to enable directly elected presidents of municipal councils and nagar panchayats to become members of their respective local bodies and exercise voting rights.

For this purpose, the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 will be amended, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

An ordinance will be promulgated to implement the decision, it said.

Elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats were held earlier this month, in which the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won 207 of the 288 municipal president posts and secured 4,422 of the 6,851 councillor seats.

The cabinet also approved the launch of the ‘District Karmayogi 2.0’ and ‘Sarpanch Samvad’ programmes aimed at improving administrative efficiency at the village, taluka and district levels.

It further decided to regularise the services of nurses working or retired from Zilla Parishads after completing bond conditions.

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In another decision, the cabinet approved the use of one acre of land belonging to the Dairy Development Department in Dharashiv city for installing a statue of social reformer and poet Annabhau Sathe.