Mumbai: All roads in Mumbai will be pothole-free and concrete in the next one and a half years, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said at ThePrint’s Off The Cuff Wednesday, giving his “guarantee”.
He asserted his agenda was development-driven and that big-ticket infrastructure projects in Mumbai and across Maharashtra will be a “game-changer”, while speaking with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and Deputy Editor Manasi Phadke.
Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said all developments have become possible, as three alliance partners in the state’s Mahayuti government, namely the BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, work in tandem and share an implicit chemistry.
“Our fight is not for the chair. Our agenda is development, and we will work towards solving people’s problems. It doesn’t matter whether I am CM or Dy CM.”
“My relationship with (CM) Devendra Fadnavis is very good. He knows I am very practical and a go-getter. Earlier, I was the CM, and he was the Dy CM. But we work as a team. Our friendship is strong and our ideology is the same, and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji always supports us,” Shinde said.
Eknath Shinde further explained how the Mahayuti government was looking at solving people’s problems by bringing in reforms, like Ladki Bahin Yojana, inaugurating big-ticket infrastructure projects, like the Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway or Samruddhi Mahamarg, the Metro network across Mumbai and the state, and the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is now ready for inauguration.
He also spoke about projects under construction, like the Shaktipeeth Mahamarg from Nagpur to Goa, the Purandar Airport near Pune, and a central park-style green space in Mumbai near the iconic Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
According to Shinde, investors prefer to invest in Maharashtra over other states and the government is looking to improve infrastructure, so the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation could flourish and generate more employment.
“Our agenda is Maharashtra’s development. Maharashtra is the growth engine of the country and we wish to take it forward,” Eknath Shinde said.
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Vision for Mumbai
Shinde, also Mumbai’s guardian minister, dedicated some time to delving into the city’s road infrastructure. CM from 2022-2024, he had started a pet project to concretise 700 km of Mumbai’s roads. The project, part of the civic body’s plan to give the city a facelift, began in February 2023.
Shinde revealed the idea came to him after a meeting with the then-commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Iqbal Chahal.
“When I met him then, I asked him what was the matter with the roads. There are potholes everywhere; people are dying in accidents because of them; memes and songs are being made about the condition of roads. When will this end?” Shinde said. “I told him we need a permanent solution to this. Let us make it all concrete. What is the problem with that?”
“He said every year we make 50 km of roads concrete,” the deputy CM added.
To this, Shinde asserted that 100 percent of roads should be concrete.
“I said in two phases, we need to concretise Mumbai’s roads. So, we are making 700km of roads in Mumbai concrete in two phases. In the next one-and-a-half years, you’ll see all the roads concretised. The city will be pothole-free. It is my guarantee,” he said.
‘Warm ties with Fadnavis & Ajit Pawar’
Formed in 2022, Mahayuti 2.0 won the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections under Shinde’s leadership in a landslide. But Shinde lost the CM seat to his then-deputy, Fadnavis. Since then, rumours of a cold war between the two leaders have been ongoing, including that Shinde is not attending cabinet meetings, or occasionally sulking and returning to his village.
In the interview, however, Shinde insisted the rumours were not true, and he and Fadnavis shared the same set of ideals. He asserted that his relationship with the other deputy CM, Ajit Pawar, was cordial too.
“We have good relations with each other. When Fadnavis was CM in 2014, I was a minister in his cabinet. So, he knows my style of working. Devendra ji and I were already working together earlier. When the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi, now in Opposition) came up, Ajit Dada was there with us. Even though he is hard-working,” Shinde said. The MVA initially comprised the undivided Shiv Sena and the undivided NCP.
“And our agenda is positivity and development. So, managing with each other is not an issue. If the agendas are different, it becomes an issue. We are working as a team. We are not those who break, but join together. Hamara Fevicol ka jod hai, tutega nahin (Joined by Fevicol, we won’t break). Mahayuti is very strong,” he added.
Under the leadership of Shinde, the Mahayuti alliance had clinched 235 of 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly election last year.
Other projects
Shinde spoke extensively about upcoming projects in Maharashtra.
He revealed that the Navi Mumbai airport, which will likely take the load off Mumbai’s main airport, would be inaugurated by the PM on 8 October.
He admitted that big-ticket projects faced land acquisition challenges, as in the case of Shaktipeeth Mahamarg, adding that the government is confident of winning over the farmers opposing the project. Shinde further said that the construction of Purandar airport near Pune would start soon since the work of land acquisition was almost over.
He also discussed at length the project of constructing a central park in Mumbai—on the lines of one in New York.
“Mumbai needs open spaces. We asked for a 125-acre plot from Mahalaxmi Racecourse. And around 170 acres from the coastal roadside. So, on a total of 300 acres of land, a world-class central park will be built in Mumbai. This won’t have any other construction. This will be a big oxygen park. We will connect it with underpasses,” Shinde said.
He said the project was started once before 2019, then briefly touched upon again in 2019, but thereafter, went into cold storage till he decided to take it forward as CM.
As Mumbai’s guardian minister, Shinde said he asked the BMC commissioner to make the city walkable. “Footpaths should be free of encroachments and I will take up an independent project on footpaths where they will be accessible to the public,” he added.
In the upcoming local body polls, Shinde underlined, the Mahayuti would fight together, strong as a team.
The talks of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray coming together do not bother him.
“In a democracy, anyone has a right to come together. They have the freedom to make an alliance, so we are not bothered. We believe in our work, what we did in the last term and now with Devendraji as CM.”
“Let anyone form an alliance with anyone. People know everything and support those who work for progress. We are not worried,” the deputy CM said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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