‘Regional balance' in Maharashtra's development is worth emulating

While planning any piece of infrastructure and other economic or social projects, the Maharashtra government has taken into account the ‘potential and appetite’ for growth in every region of the state. The government always ensured that every single expressway and road project covers maximum possible regional pockets so as to benefit every household in that particular area, no matter how remote it might be. The agencies responsible for implementing the projects and development programmes tapped the full growth potential of every region of Maharashtra.

In order to do away with regional imbalance in development, the government agencies such as Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and Maharashtra State Industrial Development Corporation (MSIDC) in the state worked hard at the planning level itself. Government took services of administrators like Radheshyam Mopalwar, IAS officer of 1995 batch, who have extraordinary understanding of all the components of any project that could spruce up the rural economy. As VC and MD of MSRDC, Mopalwar’s planning and execution of Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg is a textbook example of what inclusive development with regional balance is all about.

As DG of CM Eknath Shinde-led  War Room, Mopalwar’s advice matters a lot in terms of maintaining regional balance while planning for the upcoming infrastructure and expressway projects such as Mumbai-Goa Konkan Expressway and Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway. The planning for these projects has ensured that maximum regions which have been lagging behind in growth due to regional inaccessibility are included. The planning has encapsulated the economic aspects of the rural areas that would be covered under these huge ambitious projects of the Shinde-Fadnavis government. The land acquisition exercise is being closely monitored by the War Room DG Mopalwar who is taking care of the interest of the common man. The government’s vision is to ensure reach of expressways to every single district of Maharashtra so that there could be nothing like regional imbalance in the state.

Through the MSRDC the state has embarked on an ambitious project to create a grid of expressways adding up to more than 5300 km. It comprises 16 different projects including the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nagpur Expressways. In an interview to a newspaper, Radheshyam Mopalwar, who is the brain behind all these projects as MSRDC VC and MD and now as DG of War Room, said, “East district of Maharashtra will be connected by an Expressway. By the year 2033, you will find a scenario that anywhere in Maharashtra if you want to travel it will not take more than six to seven hours.”

This statement is indicative of the fact that Maharashtra’s focus is on regional balance in terms of development. Second, the state is focused on reducing travel time across the state so as to maintain its position as the most ideal destination for investment in the country. Given the execution and planning of the project connecting the maximum number of villages, Maharashtra’s development story is worth emulating for other states.

Experts are right when they say that balanced regional development does not only imply equal development of all regions of a state of a country but also indicates utilization of development potential of all areas as per its capacity so that the benefit of overall economic growth is shared by the inhabitants of all the different regions. The bunch of able administrators and bureaucrats in Maharashtra are ensuring uniform distribution patterns of the planned investment among different regions of the state.

As foreign investors are coming to Maharashtra at regular intervals, CM Shinde with his team of officers having tremendous command over economic nitty-gritty of projects is ensuring that there is distribution of investment in such a way that the regional rate of growth in different parts of the state could be equally attained, eliminating regional disparities if any. It is mandatory to maintain regional balance in development if Maharashtra has to achieve $ 1 trillion economy.

The Economic Advisory Council (EAC) had also suggested the state government to continue to work in this direction so as to maintain the regional balance in growth. Mopalwar himself sheds light on how the government addressed the issue of regional imbalance in development.

The government in Maharashtra paid attention to the fact that Marathwada, Vidarbha and Eastern Maharashtra had to stay away from fruits of development. This is despite the fact that 90% of resources like forest, paper, cement, steel are in Vidarbha. More than 60% power is produced in this region. Despite all this, it was difficult to bring industry, create jobs due to the absence of connectivity. Maharashtra’s entire development, creation of jobs used to be concentrated in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik which is known as the golden triangle. However, with the commissioning of the Samruddhi expressway, travel times will be reduced to 6-7 hours. Moreover, 10 districts were connected with Mumbai by an access controlled expressway.

The expressway is providing connectivity to various districts and Mumbai.  It was ensured that 2/3 Maharashtra was covered by this expressway. If it takes one to reach Nagpur in 6-7 hours and in the remote areas where it was earlier difficult to go, the areas are now opened that will encourage industries and job creation. Huge investments are lined up for the Vidarbha region as well.

The government is adopting similar approach while planning the projects such as Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, Mumbai-Nagpur High-Speed Train, Navi Mumbai International Airport, Virar Alibaug Multimodal Corridor, Mumbai – Ahmedabad High-Speed Corridor,  Mumbai–Hyderabad High-Speed Rail Corridor and Pune Nashik Semi-High-Speed Rail Corridor.

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