Shiv Sena gears up for coastal road bhoomipujan on Sunday
Move planned as Uddhav not invited to PM’S inauguration of two Metros on Tuesday
MUMBAI : The ruling party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Shiv Sena, has planned bhoomipujan for the ambitious coastal road project on December 16 (Sunday), ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai to inaugurate two Metro projects in Kalyan on December 18 (Tuesday).
The move comes as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has been apparently left out of the guestlist for the PM’S programme on Tuesday, said party insiders. The PM’S function is organised by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
The civic body will build the 29.9km coastal road running along the west coast of Mumbai to connect Marine Drive to Kandivli.
The first phase of the road has been planned from Princess Street flyover to the south-end of Bandra Worli sea link (9.98km) and preparation for the work has begun.
Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said, “The bhoomipujan will take place on December 16, at the hands of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. It will be held at 4pm.”
A senior civic official said, “The event will be held will be held at Amarsons Garden near Worli, where work on the coastal road has commenced.”
Manoj Kotak, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in BMC, said, “We haven’t received any official circular or confirmation.”
This comes as a fresh round of
tussle between the alliance partners Shiv Sena and BJP.
In February, Uddhav Thackeray gave a miss to Modi’s bhoomipujan for the Navi Mumbai International Airport, and
the inaugural function of the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence event at Bandra-kurla Complex (BKC).
Thackeray had skipped Make in India week events held in The Worli interchange will have six entry-exit arms The Haji Ali interchange will have eight entry-exit arms Mumbai in February 2016, where the Prime Minister was present. He did not attend the inaugural function of the Ambedkar memorial planned at Indu Mills in 2015.