Recruitment for as many as 40,000 vacancies in urban civic bodies in the state will be carried out soon, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Wednesday. Ahead of elections to major municipal corporations in the state, he also asked the civic bodies to focus on the upgradation of health and education facilities in their jurisdictions.

Shinde was speaking at a conference of urban local bodies here, a press release said. There are more than 55,000 vacancies in civic bodies and the process of recruitment for 40,000 posts will start soon, he said.

The chief minister also directed the officials to ensure that permissions for construction activities can be obtained online.?Officials should focus on boosting the revenues, the CM said. He also called for facilitating the sale of products manufactured by women self-help groups.