An additional series of Krishna Valley public bonds worth Rs 32 crore have been approved, a move which is expected to enable the Corporation to meet its May 2000 deadline.

The government will also accord priority to rehabilitation of the project-affected in the Krishna valley, Chief Minister Narayan Rane told mediapersons today after the two-day Cabinet meeting here. The Cabinet has made a provision of Rs 400 crore for the purpose, he said.

He also announced a proposal to set up a separate railway police commissionerate for Mumbai in an effort to ``effectively tackle crime along the railway tracks.''

The commissionerate, to be established after the Central government's go-ahead, will be headed by a Director General of Police (DGP).

TheCentre will also bear half the annual financial outlay of Rs 6.99 crore fir the commissionerate, Rane added.

Rane said he was confident that work on projects stalled due to rehabilitation-related issues would commence within a few days.

With the completion of the projects in the valley, the state government will be able to hold 592 TMC of Krishna water by May 31 next year, Rane said.

Elaborating on the MKVDC's performance, Rane said the corporation had constructed five big dams besides seven medium and 227 small projects by March this year, while work on 22 more big dams, 32 medium and 13 small projects will be completed before the May 2000 deadline.

The MKVDC, he added, had brought under irrigation about 2.85 lakh hectares of land in the valley, and another 11.73 lakh hectares will be irrigated once all the projects were completed.

The Cabinet also passed a proposal to set up a new district office at Aurangabad, covering the Marathwada region and the Manmad, Bhusawal and Jalgaon sections, Ranesaid.

The chief minister said the Cabinet had decided to introduce the Maharashtra Seeds Act to ensure that the state's farmers got standard seeds. The government will move a bill in the monsoon session of the Assembly, he said, adding the new act would be on the lines of the law enacted by the Centre.

Rane stated the Cabinet had decided to observe Janata Din, (Peoples' Day), every third Monday of the month to sort out peoples' grievances. All district and taluka level officers would be available in their offices on that day, Rane said, declaring that the administration would be instructed to attend to the complaints without delay.

Ministers can help by not summoning officers on those days, leaving them free to hear complaints, the chief minister said.

The intention was to make the administration ``responsive and public-oriented'', he added.