Letmumbaibe,whytransform itintoshanghai,saysfadnavis
CM says city changing with more than ₹1lakhcrore invested in infra projects
MUMBAI: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he has no plans to transform Mumbai into Shanghai. Fadnavis, speaking at the 16th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday, said the city has a unique character and he would prefer it stayed on as Mumbai even after the infrastructure renewal that it is currently undergoing.
Responding to an audience question on “how long would it take to turn Mumbai into Shanghai”, Fadnavis said, “Why do we want to make Mumbai into Shanghai? Let Mumbai be Mumbai; that’s better.”
The chief minister further said that the city was “changing”, with more than ₹1-lakh-crore invested in ongoing infrastructure projects. “We have 250km of Metro line being built, besides projects such as the coastal road, trans-harbour link... In the past 70 years, we created infrastructure to carry seven million commuters [suburban railways]; now in three years, we have laid down plans to create infrastructure for another eight million commuters,” said Fadnavis, adding that these plans were not just on paper, but work had started on ground.
More than a decade ago, in 2003, the then Congress-led government had initiated the Vision Mumbai project, which aimed to transform the megapolis by building new-age mass transit systems and transportation corridors. The plan then was to transform Mumbai into Shanghai. However, a majority of the projects stayed on paper for a long time.
Addressing a query on the Maratha reservation issue, Fadnavis said his government was bound to give the community reservation if the Backward Class Commission submitted a report in favour of it.
“You can call it vote-bank politics, but the fact is that the community was given reservation earlier and court didn’t accept it. So we set up a Backward Class Commission to look into the matter. It will submit its report soon. If the commission finds the community socially, educationally backward, we are bound to grant it reservation,” said the chief minister.
Fadnavis also said he did not believe in ultra-left or extreme right and his “rajdharma” was to take action against people who were against the Constitution. “Any person or organisations acting against the Constitution will face action. It doesn’t matter whichreligion,class,community or organisations they belong to. If they act against the Constitution, I will crush them,” said Fadnavis.