Work on a war footing and time-bound system to complete Metro and other infra projects, CM Eknath Shinde issues directives in the War Room meeting
Mumbai, 29th August 2022: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today directed the concerned departments to work on a war footing and in a time-bound manner to complete the basic facility projects and pending issues, especially necessary permissions should be obtained immediately. He particularly mentioned the Ahmadabad-Mumbai High-speed Railway (Bullet Train) related land acquisition, compensation, and land transfer and asked the departments to resolve them before September 30. The Chief Minister today reviewed the implementation of basic infrastructure projects in the state at a War Room meeting. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis was also present at the meeting.
Chief Minister Shinde stressed that delaying the project implementation leads to escalation of cost and causes a delay in providing facilities to the people. The Central Government is granting approval to various projects and the state should try to get benefits from them and pursue them and implement these schemes.
The meeting reviewed basic facility schemes and projects including those of railway, metro, multimodal corridor, Tuljapur, and Pandharpur.
Speed up works related to Bullet Train land acquisition, compensation
The high-speed railway project (Bullet Train) project connecting Mumbai and Ahmadabad covers a distance of 508.17 km at the estimated cost of Rs. 8000 crores. There will be 12 stations in Gujarat and Maharashtra on this route out of which 4 are in Maharashtra. Except for one in Mumbai, all others are of elevated type. For this project, the Japan Government has extended loans and 50 percent cost is borne by the Central Government while the state government will bear 25 percent cost and an equal share will be borne by the state government of Gujarat.
The Chief Minister directed the MMRDA authorities to make available 4.8-hectare land within the MMRDA for the underground station till September 30. Similarly, he also directed the district collectors of Palghar and Thane to clear issues related to land acquisition, compensation, and land transfer by September 30.
Accelerate land acquisition for metro routes
Besides the Bullet Train project, the meeting also discussed and reviewed the progress of the work on Mumbai Metro Route No 3, 4. 5, 6, 9, and 11; Metro route 2A (Dahisar East to D N Nagar), Metro Route 7 (Andheri East to Dahisar East). He asked the officers to complete the land acquisition and transfer for Metro Route 4 from Wadala to Kasar Wadavali, and Metro Route 5 from Thane to Kalyan via Bhiwandi.
Wadsa-Gadchiroli Railway Route
The cost of the Wadsa-Gadchiroli railway project has increased to Rs. 1096 crore the Chief Minister pointed out and asked the officers to immediately submit the cabinet proposal in this regard for approval. He also directed the Forest Department to speed up clearance to pending issues related to their department. The state government had already sanctioned its share of Rs. 30 crores for this project.
The Chief Minister issued directions to complete the Seori-Worli Link Road and Mumbai Trans Harbor Link as earliest possible. The meeting was informed that 84 percent work of MTHL has been completed and the remaining work will be completed by October or November next year.
Accelerate laying of Water Pipe Line
The Surya Water Supply scheme is nearing completion and it will be feasible to supply water to citizens from next year. But for this, Wasai-Virar and Miraa-Bhayandar Municipal Corporations should immediately take steps to invite tenders for laying pipeline for this besides completing other formalities, the Chief Minister issued directions.
Development plan of Pandharpur and Tuljapur temples
The Chief Minister also issued directions to submit the development plans for Pandharpur and Tuljapur temples so that facilities can be provided to the devotees on a large scale. He asked the district collectors to coordinate with the tourism department and complete the necessary action in this regard.
Pune-Nasik Semi High-Speed Railway
The NITI Ayog has granted its approval to this project in April 2022 and approval from the Center’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is awaited. The Chief Minister directed the officers to speed up and complete the land acquisition of private land and transfer of forest land for this project.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister jointly issued directives regarding Pune Metro, proposed airport t Purandar, Nagpur Metro, and Airport works followed by a discussion on them at the War Room meeting.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Manu Kumar Shrivastava, Managing Director of National High-Speed Railway Corporation Rajendra Prasad, MMRDQA Commissioner, District Collectors, and secretaries of the concerned departments.
