PM Narendra Modi’s Mumbai visit postponed

The Congress was quick to criticise the postponement. “It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister cannot give an hour for a person who has given this country its Constitution,” Congress leader Sachin Sawant said.

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The PM was scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the grand memorial to B R Ambedkar, the Maharashtra government plans to build on 12.5 acres of prime land at Dadar. He was also expected to lay the foundation stone for two Metro railway lines.

The Ambedkar memorial will be constructed near Chaityabhoomi where Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, was cremated.

There was a deadlock between the Maharashtra government and the Centre over the transfer of 12-acre Indu Mill land in Mumbai’s Prabhadevi for the memorial.

The National Textiles Corporation (NTC) — the Central government undertaking that occupies the plot — had been unwilling to accept compensation offered.

The Maharashtra government had offered NTC development rights worth Rs 1300 crore in lieu of the land. It offered this either in the form of land outside Mumbai or as development rights certificate (DRC) — Transferable Development Rights (TDR) — which could be utilised for construction projects in Mumbai.

But the NTC, which had earlier planned to use the plot for construction of a five-star hotel and a convention centre, was keen on cash compensation. Both the Centre and the state were looking at resolving the issue before Modi’s arrival in Mumbai for the foundation stone ceremony.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com