Mumbai, Nov 17 (IANS): The state government-appointed committee, led by Justice Sandeep Shinde (retd), will embark on a three-week tour of Maharashtra to finalise the procedures for issuing caste certificates to eligible Kunbi-Marathas and Maratha-Kunbis, an official said here on Friday.

The committee will travel to all the revenue divisions in the state as per a government directive, starting with Amravati Division on November 22, Nagpur (November 23), Kolhapur-Sangli (November 28), Pune (November 29), Nashik (December 2), Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri (December 11), and Konkan Division (December 14).

The announcement came after a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde this afternoon, and the panel is likely to complete its work before the December 24 ultimatum given by Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil.

Later, Shinde told media persons that contrary to apprehensions in some quarters, the existing OBC quotas will not be affected by the plans to give the reservation to the Maratha community.

Jarange-Patil is currently on a tour of certain districts of the state addressing huge public meetings to drum up support for the Maratha quotas and said they will keep quiet till December 24. Thereafter, if the government fails to announce the reservation, he has threatened to further intensify his ongoing agitation which started from August 29 in Jalna, including two-time hunger strikes and protests across the state.

Taking a swipe at the government, Jarange-Patil claimed in a public rally that it was due to his agitation that the state administration had started working on the quota issue after keeping on the backburner for over 70 years.