Farmers are important than anyone else, says Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav assured farmers that Eknath Shinde will be personally visiting villages and speak with them regarding compensation for their fertile land.
In Short
- Eknath Shinde is at the center of controversy regarding Samruddhi Expressway project.
- Party chief Uddhav Thackeray had to come to his defence.
- He assured farmers that Shinde will be visiting villages and speak with them regarding compensation.
The Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway project, which is CM Devendra Fadnavis's dream project, is in news everyday due to farmers agitation against it. But, this time MSRDC Minister Eknath Shinde is at the center of controversy regarding the project.
Since day one of this project, Shiv Sena was opposing it sighting farmers not happy with compensation given to them, but today MSRDC invited media for function of first successful land acquisition in this project at Shahapur, which raised many eyebrows because chief guest of this event was MSRDC minister Eknath Shinde, who is also senior Shiv Sena leader.
He was seen visiting all the angry farmers and offering them a good return of their land for this project.
Party chief Uddhav Thackeray had to come to his defence and called urgent press conference at Sena headquarters.
"I met farmers in areas like Nasik, Sambhajinagar, Jalana. A good crop land will be going under this project. My worry was that they should get proper compensation for their fertile land." said Uddhav Thackeray.
He further added,"I am still promising farmers, we are not against progress, but we don't want progress at the cost of anyone's livelihood."
Uddhav assured farmers that Eknath Shinde will be personally visiting villages and speak with them regarding compensation for their fertile land. Uddhav Thackeray has asked Shinde to visit the protesting villages to bridge the gap between govt and farmers.
Commenting on reports of regional media which said "Sena changed its stance on Samruddhi Express Way, minister said, "Whatever I am doing Uddhav Thackeray is aware of this. This post of minister is not that important for me than my party and party chief. We are not against any farmer, and we won't force any farmer to give their land for this project."
The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway is a grand eight-lane 710-km project, expected to change the face of Maharashtra's economy. Passing through Nagpur, Buldhana, Amravati, Wardha, Washim, Thane, Aurangabad, Akola, Bhiwandi and Nashik districts, the Expressway will also cut the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur by half. At present it takes around 16 hours to reach from Mumbai to Nagpur by road.
"We are trying to establish proper communication channel with farmers who are protesting against this project. As a minister, I am on same page with Uddhav Thackeray regarding this project," said Eknath Shinde.