Nagpur: From potholes to Gujarati pages in Marathi textbook and from Nanar oil refinery to the Mumbai-Nagpur Samrudhhi Highway, the last week of the monsoon session of the legislature in Nagpur is unlikely to be a cakewalk for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government. Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil’s statement on five deaths due to potholes where he said roads cannot be held responsible as over five lakh commuters travel daily, has attracted criticism from the Opposition.
Nanar oil refinery has caught the BJP in minority in the Assembly with the Sena joining hands with the Opposition demanding the scrapping of the project. Even though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the project will not move ahead without taking locals into confidence, all parties are adamant on its cancellation.
In the Council, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) raised the issue of Gujarati pages being printed in textbooks. NCP leader Sunil Tatkare’s outburst when Mr. Patil accused him of printing those pages to trouble the government led to a standoff between the ruling and the Opposition. The issue is likely to be raised again as the Opposition is firm on an apology.
The CM announced in the Assembly on Friday that the Sena has backed off from its opposition to the proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Highway. The Opposition, according to sources, will highlight the awarding of over ₹6.09 crore as compensation to 0.68 hectares of land in Falegaon village of Kalyan tehsil, which was a barren land.
Baban Harne of Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti from Shahapur told The Hindu that government officers in connivance with middlemen have developed a system of ensuring higher compensation package. “The government must study the wrongdoings in awarding compensation to farmers. Money is being wasted to fill the pockets of a few officers,” Mr. Harne said.