‘Indecisive CM, govt affecting infra projects’

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Farrukh Dhondy [1]

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari has blamed the “indecisive” state government for the slow pace of infrastructure development in the state. He has written a letter to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan alleging that not a single one of the mega projects worth `5,55, 000 crores has made any progress after Mr Chavan took over as CM.
In the letter, Mr Gadkari has said that Maharashtra, once the number one state in terms of industrial and infrastructure growth, is lagging behind from the last few years. “The indecisive attitude of the state government has affected the pace of infrastructure development in the state. The two big sectors affected are infrastructure and industry. When you (Mr Chavan) took charge of the government two years ago, you had promised fast-track decisions in infrastructure projects. But, not one of the mega projects, amounting to over `5,50,000 crores has moved. In fact, newspapers are full with stories of the political conflict between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party appearing to have adversely affecting the smooth functioning of the administration in the state government,” Mr Gadkari has said.
Mr Chavan has been facing accusations of slow decision-making ever since he took over as the Maharashtra CM. However, an official from the CM office refuted the allegations and said, “Mr Chavan has cleared more files than any of his predecessors. But he does not take decisions under pressure or to favour a particular businessman. He also ensures that all legal aspects are alright before clearing a file.”
“The irony is that even projects which don’t face issues of illegal land encroachments have been delayed. A case in point is the much talked about Bandra-Worli Sealink project, which was delayed for several years and the cost escalated to `1,800 crores from `420 crores though it did not have any issue related to illegal encroachments. Furthermore, the second phase of the sealink connecting Worli to Haji Ali has not even started. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) granted extension to the monorail project for the fifth time recently,” Mr Gadkari said.