Clash over credit delays ₹165-cr skill centre project in Pune’s Baner
Dy CMs Ajit Pawar, Eknath Shinde vying for credit for skill development centre; PMC has approached CM Devendra Fadnavis to step in
A political tussle within the Mahayuti government has delayed the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a ₹165-crore state-of-the-art skill development centre in Baner. With both deputy chief ministers — Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde — vying for credit, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has approached chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in and defuse tensions by leading the inauguration.
The project, funded by Tata Group under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, aims to equip around 7,000 students annually with industry-relevant skills. While PMC has allotted land for the centre, Tata Technologies will construct it. However, the ceremony has been stalled due to political infighting over who gets to inaugurate it.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed that local body and civic elections in Maharashtra — pending since 2022 over OBC reservation issues — must be held within four months. With polls looming, political parties are racing to showcase development projects, including the Baner skill centre. The Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction), both partners in the Mahayuti alliance, are now locked in a credit war.
“Both the sides want their leader to inaugurate the project,” said a senior civic official. “Ajit Pawar is the guardian minister of Pune district and finance minister. Eknath Shinde, as urban development minister, heads the department overseeing municipal corporations. If one is invited and the other isn’t, it could lead to complications — especially during the election season.”
Last week, PMC had approached Shinde’s office, but he reportedly declined due to scheduling issues. With the standoff unresolved, Pune municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale wrote to Fadnavis on Tuesday, requesting him to perform the “bhoomipujan” (foundation stone laying) to move the project forward.
Nana Bhangire, Shiv Sena’s Pune city president, said, “PMC should invite Eknath Shinde, as the civic body falls under his department.”
Meanwhile, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) Pune city working president Pradeep Deshmukh countered, “Ajit Pawar has been actively pursuing the project and intervened to speed things up. The bhoomipujan should be done by him.”
Pawar’s involvement has been hands-on. At a district planning committee meeting on April 25, he pulled up officials over encroachments and debris at the Baner site. Within 18 hours of his intervention, nearly 500 truckloads of debris were cleared from the one-acre plot, which he personally inspected on April 29.
The upcoming centre is aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and technical skills among students from engineering colleges, polytechnics, and ITIs. With a focus on industry-ready training, it is expected to become a key hub for innovation and employability in Pune.
