MUMBAI: The Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s plan to shift the location for Metro car shed to Bandra Kurla Complex, one of the locations proposed for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet railway, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has triggered yet another controversy in Maharashtra.
Former CM and BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis termed the Thackeray government’s decision as “childish”.
“As per the plan, the Metro car shed should be at Array colony and the land was also demarcated for the purspose. Leaving this appropriate place, the government is choosing another location. This is nothing but the wastage of public money. This decision will cost more than Rs 5,000 crore to the state,” Fadnavis said.
Meanwhile, another senior BJP leader Ashish Shelar said the state government is engaging in “vendetta politics” by relocating the car shed to BKC.
He said, “by choosing BKC, the government is giving a signal that it doesn’t want the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to take off. This sort of politics will put the state on backfoot,” Shelar said.
Earlier, the state government had identified Kanjurmarg land for the car shed but the Centre objected it by claiming ownership over the land. Besides, the Bombay High Court also ordered an interim stay on the state’s move to locate the car shed at Kanjurmarg.
According to a senior state official, the current tussle is the result of a “tit-for-tat” politics.
“BJP wanted the car shed at Array Colony, but the Thackeray government opposed this idea. When they decided to shift the facility to Kanjurmarg, the Centre has opposed it. Now, the state government has decided to use the BKC land which is proposed for Centre’s bullet train project.”