MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday asserted that “sons of the soil” should have the first right over the development of the Konkan region, particularly the proposed Third Mumbai project. He urged residents not to sell their land for the project but instead become stakeholders in its development. He also alleged that political kickbacks had delayed the completion of the Mumbai-Goa highway by more than a decade.
Thackeray made the statement during his tour of Raigad district, where he visited Mangaon to attend an MNS function and later toured stretches of the under-construction Mumbai-Goa highway to assess the project’s progress.
Thackeray criticised the Mahayuti government on the planning of the proposed Third Mumbai project, remarking that residents of Pen, Uran and other parts of Raigad district had been excluded from the planning process.
“Do the people here know what exactly is going to come up in this Third Mumbai?” he asked. “An educational city, sports city, data centre, research institutions and many such things. There will be huge economic development here. But the state government has kept locals in the dark about what people from other states know in detail. As a result, the latter will enjoy the fruits of all these activities instead of our youth from Maharashtra and Raigad district. People should not sell their land, which is their future. Locals should be stakeholders in this development.”
Raj added that the original landowners of the region might tomorrow be merely ex-landowners. “Selling land is the only business currently going on in Maharashtra. Selling of land is happening on a huge scale particularly in Konkan. In the past too, I warned you about it and urged you not to sell the land. The government will use our land, our water and our electricity for its projects, and who will benefit from all this? Outsiders?” he asked rhetorically.
{{/usCountry}}Raj added that the original landowners of the region might tomorrow be merely ex-landowners. “Selling land is the only business currently going on in Maharashtra. Selling of land is happening on a huge scale particularly in Konkan. In the past too, I warned you about it and urged you not to sell the land. The government will use our land, our water and our electricity for its projects, and who will benefit from all this? Outsiders?” he asked rhetorically.
{{/usCountry}}Raj also inspected the work on the incomplete Mumbai-Goa highway. Lambasting the central and Maharashtra governments, he said, “For around 15 years, we have been hearing about the Mumbai-Goa highway project. But it could not be completed just because of political intervention for kickbacks from the contractors.”
In response to Raj’s criticism, deputy CM Eknath Shinde said that the Third Mumbai project would provide jobs to “lakhs of people”.
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