Pothole free roads, better metro connectivity: Shinde unveils MahaYuti plans for Mumbai

New Delhi: In a veiled attack on Shiv Sena-UBT, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that "some treated Mumbai as a golden goose" and forced people to travel through potholed and congested roads, which will be a key issue in the upcoming local bodies elections in the state. In a video interview, Shinde said he and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were busy giving Mumbai an image makeover, and the financial capital of the nation will get "pothole-free roads" and better sanitation facilities in the next 18 months. He also asserted that the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP MahaYuti alliance will contest the upcoming local bodies elections together and expressed confidence about emerging victorious. "We contested the Lok Sabha elections together and won. The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP MahaYuti won the Maharashtra elections. We will win the local bodies elections as MahaYuti alliance," Shinde said.

The rapid development of infrastructure across the state and particularly in Mumbai and suburban areas will be a key election issue, Shinde said. "Some people treated Mumbai as the golden goose... people were forced to travel through potholes, there were several accidents," he said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has an annual budget of nearly Rs 75,000 crore, which is more than that of some small states. The undivided Shiv Sena has ruled the BMC since 1992. Shinde split the Shiv Sena in 2022 and toppled Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, formed by Sena-NCP and Congress. He claimed support of more than two-thirds of Sena legislators and was recognised as the 'real Shiv Sena' by the Election Commission. The BMC elections, likely to be held later this year, are expected to witness a tussle between Thackeray and Shinde to prove their supremacy in the state capital. "I will only say that the decisions for the betterment of Mumbai and Maharashtra taken during my two-and-a-half-year tenure as chief minister, along with Devendra Fadnavis, will deliver results," Shinde said. "People want results, and they support those who deliver and not those who sit at home. We have seen this in assembly elections and will see it again in local body elections," he said.

The deputy chief minister said road concretisation was in full swing in Mumbai, and the city will be pothole-free within one and a half years. "We've also started seven sewage treatment plants to stop polluted water from entering the sea, something that should have been done 20 years ago," Shinde said. He hit out at the Thackeray-led MVA government for "stalling" development projects such as the Mumbai Metro and the car-shed work, causing hardships to the people. "We've restarted all of them. Mumbai's metro network will soon reach 350–400 km. We're aiming for last-mile, end-to-end connectivity in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," Shinde said. He said the "Balasaheb Thackeray Aapla Dawakhana" (neighbourhood clinics) have been functioning across several locations in Mumbai that ensure free medical checkups and medicines for the poor in slum areas. "Long-pending housing projects under the slum rehabilitation scheme have now begun. We aim to bring back people who were forced out of Mumbai to suburbs such as Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Badlapur," Shinde added.