The budget session of Maharashtra Legislature began with Governor K Sankaranarayanan’s address. While addressing a joint session of the Maharashtra Legislature on the opening day of the six-week long budget session, the Governor greeted members of both the houses on the platinum jubilee celebrations of the state legislature. He said the Legislature has taken various people centric welfare decisions to guide Maharashtra’s progress in the social, economic and cultural fields and its contribution in meeting the legitimate aspirations of the people is unmatched.In his address, the Governor said in order to meet legitimate development aspirations of the people and to improve their standard of living, the Government has decided to bench mark districts on the basis of Human Development Indicators. The Governor said, the Government is continuing its efforts to remove regional imbalances in the State. On development of naxal-affected areas in the state, the Governor said the Central Government has formulated an Integrated Action Plan to be implemented in Gondia and Gadhchiroli districts in Maharashtra. He also informed that in order to provide specialised training to police in Anti-Naxal Operations in forest areas, ‘Alpha Hawk Academy’ is being established at Nagpur. On coastal security, the Governor said that the Government has taken a decision to establish a Marine Police Training Academy in Raigad District.On the first day of the budget session, the Maharashtra Government organised a special lecture by the former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Anil Kakodkar, on the importance of nuclear energy for MLAs and MLCs of the state as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the state legislature. The lecture was held on the background of the controversy over Jaitapur nuclear power plant near Ratnagiri in Konkan.Meanwhile, the BJP set the tone for the session, by taking out a morcha from Azad Maidan to Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai this morning, to protest against the “mafia raj” prevailing in the State. Organised by the BJP as the culmination of its “Mafia sarkar hatao-Maharashtra bachao Andolan”, the morcha was led by the party's national president Nitin Gadkari, while party's senior leaders, including Gopinath Munde, Venkaiah Naidu and State unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar, were among those who prominently took part in the march.Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, will present his first budget in the Assembly on 23rd of this month.