Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were engaged in a verbal duel over the land in Kanjurmarg, which has been earmarked for the construction of Metro 3 and 6 carsheds. This comes after media reports said that Garodia Group has served notice to Mumbai Suburban District Collector and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The notice said that they were the lessee of the 500 acres of land in Kanjur village. It has asked MMRDA to stop the soil testing work on Kanjurmarg land.
BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Ashish Shelar alleged whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had hatched a plot under the garb of the Metro carshed project to get the Kanjurmarg land to Garodia Group. “The state government is cheating Mumbaikars,’’ he claimed.
Shelar further stated that Garodia Group has claimed that the City Civil Court, way back in April 2016, had directed a status quo on the Kanjurmarg land. “Is the Kanjurmarg land decision a foundation for a Rs 50,000 crore scam?’’ he asked.
However, Congress has slammed BJP for levelling baseless allegations against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on the proposed Metro carshed at Kanjurmarg. “It is quite clear that BJP hates Maharashtra and the party has been involved in creating hurdles in the infrastructure development in Mumbai. Has the BJP become now an agent of a builder? Why is Shelar so sympathetic towards Garodia Group?’’ asked the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sachin Sawant.
He further said the Kanjurmarg land is owned by the state government. “No builder even if associated with BJP will be entertained by the state government,’’ he added.
Sawant recalled that BJP state president Chandrakant Patil, who during his tenure as the Revenue Minister, had ruled that the state government owns the Kanjurmarg land. “Does Shelar and company want to dump Patil’s ruling? It clearly exposes BJP’s changed policy after losing power. Advocate General in his opinion has said the land earmarked for the Metro carshed does not involve any litigation. BJP wasted five years in clearing the Kanjurmarg land for the metro carshed,’’ he alleged.
