The Congress has strongly opposed chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s proposal to sell 30 acres of land at Bandra Reclamation for Rs 2,000 crore for the development of the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway. Congress MP Husain Dalwai has said that while the party is not against development or upliftment of Vidarbha region, the CM should have explored other avenues to raise the fund rather than exploiting property meant for Mumbai Metropolitan region. Dalwai added he would take up the issue with the Centre too.
Last week, the state has announced that it intended to sell a 30-acre plot of land at Bandra Reclamation to raise funds for the proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, which is incidentally Mr Fadnavis’s Rs 45,000-crore pet project. Following the announcement, Aditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Udhav Thackeray, had written to Mr Fadnavis asking him to spare a piece of land for a playground.
However, the Congress said that they were more concerned about the development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and did not have any selfish motives and hence opposed the entire proposal. “The party is not against the development of Vidarbha region; on the contrary, whatever development the region has seen is due to the initiatives started by the Congress. Now Mr Fadnavis has christened it as the Maharashtra Prosperity Expressway, but at what cost Mumbai was previously exploited by western Maharashtra and now Mr Fadnavis wants to exploit it for his own benefit. If he was keen on doing something for the state, he should not have given land at a throwaway price to Ramdev Baba and should have asked the Centre to provide the funds. The move to sell land in Bandra is unacceptable, and I will be raising the issue in Delhi,” said Mr Dalwai.
Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said that property in MMR was meant for the development of the city and its surrounding areas. “The CM wants to use it for his pet project,” Mr Nirupam alleged.
