₹20,000 crore approved for land acquisition & realignment of Nagpur-Goa expressway
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided not only to go ahead with the Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway but also to fund the complete process of land acquisition for the project. It has approved a sum of ₹ 20,787 crore for acquiring more than 7,500 hectares of land. Of the total amount, ₹ 12,000 crore will be taken as a loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). A file photo of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with Shiv Sena leaders Subhash Desai and Diwakar Raote. (PTI photo) (PTI)
The state cabinet took the decision despite strong resistance from farmers, especially those from western Maharashtra districts. During the meeting, two ministers—medical education minister Hasan Mushrif and state health minister Prakash Abitkar—expressed their reservations about taking the project ahead despite this opposition. Both are from Kolhapur district.
The ministers suggested that the state government hold discussions with the affected farmers and try to find a way out of the situation. 'They told the cabinet that the Mahayuti coalition had already faced a backlash from farmers during the Lok Sabha elections,' revealed a minister privy to the development. 'This could be repeated in the upcoming polls if the state government decides to forcibly implement the project.'
Taking this into consideration, the cabinet approved partial alignment of the project. 'It has approved the alignment connecting Pavnar, which falls in Wardha district, to Sangli covering more than 700 km,' revealed a senior official from the public works department (PWD).
The cabinet also decided to scrap the alignment going through Shirol, Karvir, Hatkanangale, Kagal, Bhudargad and Ajara talukas of Kolhapur district. 'Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to prepare an alternate alignment for the remaining part of the project connecting Sangli with Sindhudurg district,' said another PWD official. 'Once this is done, the CM and the two deputy chief ministers will hold consultations with all the stakeholders—local MLAs and ministers among others—before taking a final decision on the alignment.'
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar too confirmed that the state government was planning to change the alignment. 'When the ministers expressed their concern regarding resistance from farmers and requested Fadnavis to hear them out, he assured them that there was no reason for them to continue with the project if people were opposing it,' Pawar told reporters. 'The CM also assured them that he would try to change the alignment.'
The state is powering ahead with this expressway despite opposition from farmers, as it requires private agricultural land on a large scale. In the run-up to the assembly elections last year, the then chief minister Eknath Shinde had promised that the project would not be imposed on the farmers but the government changed its position after coming to power with an unprecedented majority.
The 802.592-km-long expressway will connect 12 districts: Wardha, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. It will later be linked to the Mumbai-Goa highway close to the Goa border. The expressway will reduce travel time between Nagpur and Goa from 18 to eight hours.
The expressway has also been positioned as a religious and cultural corridor aimed at enhancing pilgrimage connectivity across Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra, as it will connect three major pilgrimage sites—the Mahalaxmi temple (Kolhapur), Tulja Bhavani Temple (Dharashiv) and Renuka Mata Shakti Peeth Temple (Nanded).
The project will be executed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
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