Fadnavis dream project hits political hurdle

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ ambitious project — the Rs 46,000-crore, 706-km Mumbai to Nagpur super communication highway — is rapidly turning into a political issue.

Not just Opposition parties, even BJP ally Shiv Sena is raising serious concerns over the project.

While the Congress and the NCP are campaigning against the project, Shiv Sena and farmers’ leader Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana are expressing deep reservations.

The demand to scrap the project has come to the forefront, amidst demands to waive farm loan and procurement of agriculture produce including tur dal. Over the past two months, farmers have staged a series of protests over land acquisition and corruption.

“We will create a Singur-like situation if samruddhi corridor is not scrapped,” Shetti had warned. “We won’t allow the farmers’ land to be taken away for building the expressway. What is the use of building this at the farmers’ cost? Thackeray had recently said.

On Tuesday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar held a meeting on the issue. “This is going to be troublesome for farmers,” state NCP president Sunil Tatkare said.

Last week, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam had attacked the chief minister on the issue and questioned the change in the request for qualification (RFQ) bids.

“When the first bid was floated, 40 companies and consortiums came in. However, the RFQ was altered and only five remained. We would like to know why the chief minister is silent on the issue,” he said.