The Maharshtra government’s Mumbai-Nagpur expressway is on course despite large tracts of irrigated land being lost to the project.
IN Maharashtra, a State whose economy is effectively in the red, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has put all his might behind fulfilling his dream of building an eight-lane Mumbai-Nagpur expressway that will traverse 10 districts, covering a distance of 710 kilometres. This gigantic project is estimated to cost Rs.46,000 crore. But there is an even higher price that the State will have to pay for the project: 20,820 hectares of land.
The grandly named Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, or prosperity corridor, is not just about a highway that cuts the travel time by half between the two capitals of the State (traditionally, Nagpur hosts the winter session of the State legislature) but more about developing the region lying between them. This euphemism for land grab for industrial development is all too clear in this case. Of the 20,820 ha, a mere 8,520 ha will be needed for the expressway; the remaining 12,000 ha is meant for developing 24 townships. These townships, or development nodes, will house industries that range from agro-processing to information technology.
The expressway will run through 354 villages spread across 30 taluks. Close to 80 per cent of the land, that is, 17,499 ha, that is to be acquired for the project is agricultural land, 399 ha forest land and 2,922 ha unused land.
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