Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday announced that the proposed Shaktipeeth Highway connecting Nagpur and Goa will not be forced on the people and that the government was also thinking of realignment of the route where there is opposition. The Indian Express on June 19 had reported that stung by the Lok Sabha poll defeat in seats along the proposed route and amid protests from farmers, the Maharashtra government had decided to put on hold work on the 802-km greenfield highway project connecting Nagpur and Goa until the Assembly elections later this year. The project is estimated to cost the state exchequer Rs 80,000 crore. “The protest against Shaktipeeth Highway which will connect Nagpur to Goa is underway. This government belongs to common people. Therefore the project will move forward only after taking people into confidence. We will not force it upon people,” Shinde announced on social media site X. He added that the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi project was also completed after taking people into confidence. “Therefore, we are also thinking as to whether the realignment of the project is possible in areas where it is being opposed by the people. However, no project will move ahead without taking the people into confidence,” he said. The project was first announced in September 2022. The bids for appointing a consultant for the feasibility study was floated in October 2022 and the bid was awarded in early 2023. The 2023-24 Budget approved funding for the project. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which was asked to execute the project, had conducted a feasibility study and issued a notification of section 15(2) regarding land acquisition for the expressway. The e-way proposes to connect Pavnar in Wardha district in Nagpur division to Patradevi in Sindhudurg district. The road will pass through 11 districts — Wardha, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Latur, Beed, Dharashiv, Solapur, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. In February 2024, the state government gave a green signal for the project, which was seen as connecting all important Hindu religious pilgrim centres in these 11 districts, and hence named it Shaktipeeth e-way. Of the 8,419 hectares required for the project, around 8,100 is private agriculture land. There have been continuous protests from farmers, and leaders across the political spectrum, including those from the ruling coalition, have supported the farmers. In the recent Lok Sabha election, the ruling coalition lost in 10 out of 11 districts through which the road will pass. The results also seem to have put the ruling alliance on a defensive mode given that Assembly polls are just four months away.
