Political slugfest mars Mumbai Coastal Road inauguration as Fadnavis takes pot shots at Sena UBT

The foundation stone (Bhoomi Pujan) of this project was laid in December 2018 by Uddhav Thackeray along with then Mumbai’s Mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.

While the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) was first envisioned in 1967, Fadnavis alleged that the project was deliberately delayed by all the previous governments in Mumbai.

“The Coastal Road is not new. The idea of this project was conceived decades back. However, the project wasn’t implemented on ground since it required modification of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) rules. Between 2004 and 2014, there was a UPA government at the centre as well as in the state. However, nobody took the initiative to push the Centre for tweaking the norms. It was only after our (BJP) government came to power at the Centre and state that this project got the much-needed push and after just five meetings with the Union ministry we were able to modify the existing CRZ rules,” Fadnavis said.

DCM Ajit Pawar said the coastal road will provide an additional 300 acres of green cover. (Express photo: Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that unlike the previous government which paid lip service to the concerns of people who were affected by the Coastal Road, his government had ensured that the issues were addressed.
“On social media, some leaders are alleging that they have worked on this project. But when the members of the Koli community approached the previous government with their demand of expanding the gap between the pillars of the bridge, they (previous government) tried to make excuses of engineering specifications, and did not take their demands into consideration. However, when I was approached by the Kolis after we came to power, we ensured their demands were met,” Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.

Meanwhile, DCM Ajit Pawar said that on completion, the coastal road will provide Mumbaikars an additional 300 acres of green cover.

“Mumbai is now ranked as one of the polluted cities in India. Our government has vowed to make this city free from the pollution woes. The coastal road is a major milestone which will not only lead to reduction in carbon footprint, but also provide an added green cover of 175 acres to the city. The open spaces of coastal road will be connected with Mahalaxmi Race course with an underground tunnel that will collectively become an open space upto 300 acres,” Pawar said.

The Shiv Sena UBT, meanwhile, criticised the Central government stating that it had delayed the project by three years and also attacked the state government for the delay in opening the project.

“DCM says some permissions were given by them… it is their job! And yet it (MCRP) was delayed by the Central government for almost three years. I have tweeted about the delay and constant follow up with the Union Environment Minister back then, available on my timeline. More so, it is a shame how the current regime kept delaying the partial inauguration of the delayed coastal road. The date was changed multiple times since February 19 and the last one was changed from Saturday to Monday (today). It’s disgusting to see how the BJP-led regime takes every chance to insult Maharashtra and trouble Mumbai. The half DCM can claim all credit, as is the habit but Mumbai knows,” Aaditya Thackeray said on X.