<span style="color: #222222;">Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai said that 40000 hectare land has been reserved in various MIDCs across state for foreign investors and added that "Maha Permits" will be provided for big-ticket industrial projects, covering all kinds of permissions that are needed to set up a plant. He also informed that 65000 industries have been granted permission to resume operations in state, of which 35000 industries have already started production activities with over 9 lakh employees reporting for work.<br />''<br />''The Industries Minister said many companies were backing out from China (after coronavirus outbreak) and the state was are closely watching the developments. The Mega permits will be granted after the companies submit concrete proposals while the period for obtaining other subsequent permissions will be increased and they can be obtained after the unit starts. The Industries Ministry has also formed a Task Force comprising senior officers who are already in talks with their counterparts in America, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and England.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, the Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif has informed that the government has decided to temporarily stay holding of gram sabhas or meetings in villages till further orders in view of the COVID-19 crisis. The mandatory gram sabhas scheduled to be held this month across villages will not be held now. The buses of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) ferried nearly 73,000 migrant labourers in the last five days, upto the respective state borders. Transport Minister Anil Parab appealed that migrant labourers should travel by MSRTC buses, avoiding risky modes of travel.</span><br />