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With Sena-BJP back in power, HCMTR, Pune airport and riverfront development projects may see light of day
With the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back in power following the swearing-in of Shinde as chief minister of Maharashtra, BJP pet projects from Pune including HCMTR (high capacity mass transit route), Purandar international airport, and riverfront development are likely to gain pace again
With the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back in power following the swearing-in of Shinde as chief minister of Maharashtra, BJP pet projects from Pune including HCMTR (high capacity mass transit route), Purandar international airport, and riverfront development are likely to gain pace again. These three projects from Pune had been put on the backburner ever since the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came to power in 2019.
Back in 2014, the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis along with union minister Nitin Gadkari faced a lot of flak for pushing the Nagpur metro ahead of the Pune metro. After the initial criticism however, Fadnavis during his five-year tenure from 2014 to 2019 promised that he would take care of Pune city. While Fadnavis has now decided to stay out of the new Shinde-helmed state cabinet, BJP hopefuls such as Chandrakant Patil and Madhuri Misal are likely to push these projects that are crucial for the city which is going to municipal polls in the next few days.
After bring sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, Fadnavis said, “The new government under Eknath Shinde will give priority to various things including Metro or other projects. There are various issues in front of Maharashtra that will be addressed by the new government. We want every section of the society to be happy.”
So far as Purandar international airport is concerned, the ministry of defence in September 2021 cancelled the no-objection certificate for the proposed airport site at Purandar. Thereafter, the state government has had limited options either to shift the project out of Purandar or rethink an old site in the same tehsil where all clearances have already been received during Fadnavis’s tenure as CM.
In case of HCMTR, the MVA government put it on the backburner with former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar recommending a new metro and change of alignment over the elevated route. The riverfront development project, too, is facing opposition from environmentalists.
Before 2014, the formation of the PMRDA (Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority) was pending for the last decade but Fadnavis, as CM, gave it the green signal. He even helped in speedy land acquisition for the Pune metro project. He pushed for e-buses in the city and Pune now has the largest number of e-buses in the country. After the MVA came to power in 2019 however, Fadnavis used to always speak about his pet projects whenever he was in Pune.
With the BJP being the dominant party in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Fadnavis used to visit frequently and tell the media and party office-bearers, “The PMC needs to give a push to the HCMTR project which is the inner ring road. Along with the metro, if the HCMTR gets a push, it will help solve traffic problems.”
Fadnavis was aggressive about keeping some lanes on HCMTR for private vehicles as it is an elevated route. But Ajit Pawar converted it to public transport and introduced the neo-metro on it. Now BJP office-bearers are hoping that Fadnavis will push for private vehicles again.
Fadnavis had given approval to the Purandar international airport and even the central government had given clearance to the same. Citing opposition to land acquisition for the project however, the NCP and Congress shifted the existing Purandar land and it was ultimately rejected. Now BJP sources want Fadnavis to sort out the issue and possibly push for the airport on the same land again.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the riverfront development project in March, NCP leader Sharad Pawar raised objection as some citizens approached him. It was decided to call a meeting with former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for the same. Now with the change in government, it is expected that Fadnavis will push the project as it was inaugurated by the PM himself.
