Coastal road work begins; Sena, BJP squabble over bhoomi pujan

Mumbai: The BMC’s contractor for the coastal road has started boring work at Haji Ali, signifying that the ambitious project has begun. At the same time, civic officials said, there’s no clarity on who will perform the groundbreaking ceremony.


Turns out that the BJP, which leads the saffron alliance in the state, wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to grace the occasion, but the Shiv Sena, which rules the BMC, does not and instead wants party chief Uddhav Thackeray to alone take credit. The saffron parties have several differences, with the Sena often criticizing the BJP on various issues.


The coastal road is a sensitive subject for the Sena, which has been pushing for a contract for the entirety of the proposed road, from SoBo to Kandivli, since 2011. But the BJP-led state government has gone ahead with driving just one phase—Marine Drive to Haji Ali—snatching the initiative from the Sena in the process. Samajwadi Party corporator Rais Shaikh said on Sunday, “Two months have passed since the civic standing committee cleared the proposal, but work got delayed because of differences between the Sena and the BJP over the groundbreaking ceremony.”

The BMC has already handed over vacant land to the contractor for the casting yard needed for the project, and given permission to construct jetties for the mobilization of resources by sea.