In yet another blow to BJP, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday scrapped the appointment of Prashant Thakur as the chairman of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). Thakur, who is the BJP legislator from Panvel in Raigad district, is a close confidant of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He was appointed as the CIDCO chairman on September 4, 2018.
State Urban Development Department deputy secretary Vijay Chaudhari today issued the notification on the cancellation of Thakur's appointment as the CIDCO chairman and its director. Thakur will be soon replaced by a senior member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Thakur was not reachable when contacted for comment.
The government's move comes when CIDCO is currently involved in the development of Navi Mumbai International airport with an investment of Rs 16,000 crore, Metro Railway and Metro City and the Navi Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA). CIDCO has earmarked total expenditure outlay of Rs 9,662.73 crore for the current financial year. The new chairman will have to put all these projects on the fast track development.
The first phase of Navi Mumbai airport won't be completed by May 2020 but will take some more time.
The metro project is also running behind the schedule. Metro rail corridor (Belapur-Taloja-Pendhar-Khandeshwar-NMIA 23.40) is projected to be an important landmark in the Smart City.
As far as NAINA is concerned, it is aimed to have 30 Hi-Tech towns that will come up in the years ahead. The NAINA project is a futuristic planned dwelling space that will include all-round infrastructural developments. All important sanctions have been received from the state government other concerned parties and work is on in full-swing. The project is expected to be completed in a span of the next 5 years.
Further, CIDCO has framed its housing policy incorporating self-financing principle using land as a prime resource in the development of housing sector.
CIDCO has launched the construction of more than 90,000 houses for low-income group and economically weaker section categories. Of the 90,000 homes, 53,000 will be constructed for the EWS category while 37,000 will be built for the LIG category.
