Cong wants probe into Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway project

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, February 25

The Congress, which is part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition ruling Maharashtra, has demanded a probe into land deals involving the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway.

Speaking in the state Assembly, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan called for an inquiry into land deals just before the then Devendra Fadnavis government began the process to acquire land for the project.

Chavan told the House that there were allegations of irregularities in land acquisition by bureaucrats and politicians and the erstwhile government had promised a probe into the matter.

“An inquiry should be conducted on those who purchased land just before the acquisition process for the project commenced,” Chavan told mediapersons later.

Public Works Department Minister Eknath Shinde told the state Assembly that an inquiry by the Lok Ayukta found the allegations baseless.

Shinde was PWD Minister under the Fadnavis government when the Shiv Sena was part of it. The 700-km-long Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor, as it is called, will link several backward regions of Maharashtra like Buldana, Amravati and Washim to Mumbai and Nagpur.

According to the original plan of the Maharashtra government, several townships were to be constructed along the Expressway. However, protests over land acquisition forced the then Fadnavis government to focus on the road project alone.

According to former BJP MLA Anil Gote, who filed a detailed complaint in the matter, senior bureaucrats close to Fadnavis had purchased land earmarked for the Expressway project at throwaway prices which they then sold to the state government at exorbitant rates.

Gote sought a probe into the conduct of Maharashtra State Road

Development Corporation (MSRDC) Managing Director Radeshyam Mopalwar, said to be close to Fadnavis.

Mopalwar was forced to quit as Managing Director of MSRDC four years ago after a tape recording surfaced where someone whose voice was similar to him was heard asking another person for money to “be sent above”.

However, a three-member committee under former Chief Secretary Johny Joseph set up by Fadnavis to probe Mopalwar gave him a clean chit.

Subsequently, Mopalwar was brought back as Managing Director of MSRDC. After his retirement on February 28 last year, the Fadnavis government reappointed him on contract on the same day.