Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday denied the Opposition's charge of deterioration of law and order in the state and claimed that the conviction rate has significantly increased, reaching 96.24 per cent in Maharashtra.

He also noted that the response time for the 'Dial 112' service has been reduced from 15 minutes to nearly 7.37 minutes.

In his reply to a debate on a last week's motion in the State Assembly, the Chief Minister said the crime has decreased in Pune during the period of October 2024 to October 2025.

Addressing crimes against women and children in Maharashtra, CM Fadnavis said that the rate of complaint registration is more than 99 per cent.

He also informed that the rate of filing a charge sheet within 60 days in cases of crimes against women has increased to 87.8 per cent by October 2025.

"Through 'Operation Muskan' and 'Operation Shodh', thousands of missing women and children have been traced. Nearly 86 per cent of registered kidnapping victims in the state are traced within one year, with this rate reaching 99 per cent in Mumbai," he said.

CM Fadnavis announced that action against cybercrime, narcotics, and organised crime has been intensified.

"MahaCyber is being used to control offences like cyber fraud, fake call centres, and digital arrests, and has emerged as the most modern cyber headquarters in the country. He added that many states and two foreign countries have requested cooperation with MahaCyber," he said.

He clarified that a zero-tolerance policy is being strictly enforced against illegal drugs, with stringent action taken against peddlers under the MOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) and MPDA (Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act).

The Chief Minister provided data on police recruitment, saying that more than 88,000 police personnel have been recruited in the last 10 years.

He expressed confidence that strict action against criminals in the state will continue.

He added, "Maharashtra will not stop now; with everyone's cooperation, we must take Maharashtra forward."

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said the Maharashtra government is successful in reducing irrigation backlog in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

The irrigation backlog of 13.83 lakh hectares in Vidarbha and Marathwada has almost been cleared.

He said that, of this backlog determined by the Indicator Backlog Committee, 13.34 lakh hectares have been brought under irrigation, and now only 49,000 hectares of backlog remain.

This backlog is mainly limited to three districts of Akola, Buldhana and Hingoli, he added.

"In Akola, against the remaining backlog of 14,530 hectares, 19,335 hectares of irrigation capacity will be created by 2026-27 and in Buldhana, against the backlog of 29,000 hectares, 1,68,000 hectares of area will come under irrigation," CM Fadnavis said.

He clarified that a provision of Rs 2,399 crore has been made this year for the Jigaon project in particular, and due to this one project, Buldhana district will go directly from deficit to surplus.

"The extension work of the Gosikhurd project, which is considered the lifeline of Eastern Vidarbha, is in the final stage, and a total of 2.54 lakh hectares of irrigation capacity will be created. A fund of Rs 1,555 crore has been approved for this, and the work will be completed by June 2027," the Chief Minister said.

"Most of the total 485 irrigation projects in Vidarbha have been completed and 7.66 lakh hectares of additional capacity will be created from the remaining 74 projects. Apart from this, 4.04 lakh hectares of land will come under irrigation due to the Rs 1 lakh crore Wainganga-Nalganga mega river linking project and the target is to complete all the approval processes by February 2026," CM Fadnavis added.

The Chief Minister expressed confidence that the diversion of Damanganga-Narpar-Girna water for Marathwada and the flood diversion projects that will divert flood water from Kolhapur-Sangli to Ujani will permanently end the drought.