Govt mulling realignment of Shaktipeeth highway: Shinde

Mumbai: With efforts to acquire land for the 802-km long Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway fuelling unrest among farmers and potential land losers across Marathwada and western Maharashtra, and ministers giving conflicting statements, chief minister Eknath Shinde weighed in on the issue on Friday. He said that the government would not impose the project on farmers and was instead mulling about realignment of the route to address their concerns.

Shinde’s statement came a day after public works (public enterprises) minister Dada Bhuse and higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil made contradictory statements on the issue. On Thursday, Bhuse said that the government had decided to go slow on the project while Patil claimed the project had been shelved altogether.

Shinde, in his statement, sought to clear the air regarding the continuation of the project as well as allay the unrest among farmers, which could negatively affect the prospects of the ruling coalition in the forthcoming assembly elections.

“This government belongs to the common man. So, we will take forward the project only by considering the sentiments of the people and by taking them into confidence. We will not impose the project on the people, nor implement it using force. We have completed the game-changing Samruddhi Expressway by taking people into confidence. Along the same lines, we are mulling over options for the realignment of Shaktipeeth Expressway,” Shinde said in his statement.

The issue of Shaktipeeth Expressway gained prominence after thousands of farmers from the Kolhapur district who were served land acquisition notices participated in a march on Tuesday demanding cancellation of the project by July 12. Taking a cue from such protests, some leaders from the ruling coalition have also voiced their opposition, including Shiv Sena MLA from Kolhapur, Prakash Abitkar, who recently wrote to Shinde, requesting him to change the route of the expressway.

The project was announced by Devendra Fadnavis in the annual budget in March 2023, when he was the finance minister. Estimated to cost ₹83,600 crore, the highway will connect various shrines in the state and traverse 11 districts in Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra to reach Goa.