Mumbai: The Mahayuti government’s ambitious project of building an expressway between Nagpur and Goa, connecting Maharashtra’s Shaktipeeths — some significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations — has run into trouble with some of its own leaders.
The 802-kilometre expressway, called Shaktipeeth Expressway, is facing opposition over land acquisition from villagers in certain talukas of the Kolhapur district. Some Mahayuti leaders from the district are attributing the ruling coalition’s loss in Kolhapur partially to people’s opposition to the Shaktipeeth Expressway. With assembly elections just four months away, a few leaders from the district are reluctant to take any chances and are demanding that the project be scrapped.
The Mahayuti government comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The resistance from local villagers has prompted Sanjay Mandlik, a leader from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, to write to CM Shinde asking for the project to be scrapped. Hasan Mushrif, a minister from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the Shinde cabinet, has also publicly spoken about the need to ditch the project.
Similarly, Dhananjay Mahadik, a BJP leader from Kolhapur, has taken a cautious stand, saying there’s need for more clarity on how the project is going to impact people.
Speaking to ThePrint, Mandlik, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from the Kolhapur assembly constituency this year, said, “Yesterday I gave a memorandum to the CM to scrap the project. A major highway will lead to a lot of loss of land for farmers. Instead they can create smaller bypass roads to connect the places of pilgrimage that fall in our constituency.”
“What is the point of a large project like this if people are going to suffer? That is the main intention behind writing such a letter,” he added.
Mandlik lost the Lok Sabha poll to Chhatrapati Shahu, a descendant of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji. Shahu contested as a candidate of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on a Congress ticket. The MVA comprises the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Anilkumar Gaikwad, vice-chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), told ThePrint, “We are implementing this project for the benefit of people. There is no question of imposing anything on people. We will speak to all stakeholders, convince them and only then go ahead with the project.”
Also Read: ‘Campaign on local concerns, better coordination’ — how MVA prevailed over Mahayuti in Maharashtra
‘Shaktipeeth project impacted Mahayuti in LS elections’
Mushrif, who holds the medical education portfolio in the Shinde government, last week told reporters that the Shaktipeeth highway was one of the reasons for the Mahayuti’s defeat in at least 12 Lok Sabha constituencies, especially Kolhapur.
The ruling Mahayuti put up a poor showing in Maharashtra this time, winning just 17 of the state’s 48 seats. The MVA clinched 30 seats, while one seat, Sangli, went to Independent Vishal Patil, a Congress rebel who has now given his support as an associate member of the Congress.
Speaking to reporters, Mushrif said, “There is no need for this road. We could not raise this issue earlier because the CM and both deputy CMs were a bit dejected. Fadnavis expressed his disappointment and offered his resignation. Ajit dada was also a little upset. So we couldn’t raise this issue earlier. But now that the model code of conduct has been lifted, we will take an entire delegation and make the government scrap this road.”
The BJP’s Mahadik told ThePrint that Mahayuti leaders at the grassroots need clarity about the Shaktipeeth project. “Nobody right now has any knowledge of what the road is, what its exact alignment is going to be. The markings for the alignment are not entirely done. But the Congress strategically campaigned against the project this election talking about how people are going to lose their lands.”
He added: “We don’t have much clarity about it right now. We will take information on exactly how many villages are going to be affected. If people still oppose it we won’t be able to implement the project.”
What is the Shaktipeeth expressway
The Shaktipeeth expressway is planned to be even longer than the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway, which is touted to be among India’s longest. The new expressway will be 802 kilometres long, while the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway, popularly known as Samruddhi Mahamarg, is 701 kilometres long and is partially open to traffic. The Shaktipeeth expressway will start from Pavnar in Wardha district and end at Patradevi on the Maharashtra-Goa state border.
The Shaktipeeth expressway has been planned to pass through 11 districts, connecting different districts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and the Konkan regions such as Wardha, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad, Solapur, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg, which is right at the Maharashtra-Goa border.
“The alignment is the best possible, impacting the least amount of fertile land. It covers 19 devasthans (holy destinations). It is important as it connects the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway and the Mumbai-Goa coastal road. Together, these three major roads will cover 29 of Maharashtra’s 36 districts,” MSRDC vice-chairman Gaikwad, quoted earlier, said.
It has been planned to connect many of Maharashtra’s pilgrimage destinations such as Sevagram, Karanja Lad, Mahur, Aundha Nagnath, Nanded’s Takht Sachkand, Gurdwara, Parli-Vaijnath, Ambajogai, Tuljapur, Pandarpur, Kunkeshwar and others.
The tendering process for the project is yet to begin. The state government has approved the alignment of the project and the MSRDC has put up proposals before district collectors for land acquisition. According to Gaikwad, the MSRDC will have to acquire about 10,000 hectares of land for the project.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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