CM's visit to Delhi clears the way for coastal road.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's visit to Delhi has brought some good tidings. Mumbai’s proposed coastal road will get the final Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance in a week, said the Chief Minister following his meeting with Environment Minister Anil Dave.

Coastal road was the central issue in the campaigning of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls with the Shiv Sena and the BJP claiming credit for it. It will be executed by the BMC, and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has been claiming that the coastal road work has come to standstill as certain permissions from the Centre are awaited. Mr. Fadnavis said the necessary permissions for the project will be given within a month.

He also raised the redevelopment of slums which has come to a halt because of CRZ norms, which he said will be cleared soon.

In his meeting with Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, the Chief Minister raked up the conservation of forts built by Chhatrapati Shivaji. Mr. Fadnavis said from now on, the Centre will not interfere with the plan cleared by the State government on conservation of forts. The State has prepared a ₹500-crore development proposal for the conservation of Raigad fort, the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s kingdom.

“Earlier, State officials had to visit Delhi for getting permission of any work related to the conservation of forts. This government has allowed us to take decisions at our level. It will speed up the entire process and we are thankful of the Central government.”

Mr. Fadnavis tweeted, “Master plan for development of Raigad Fort will be approved by ASI & it will be executed by Govt of Maharashtra under the supervision of ASI.”

Mr. Thackeray had taken up the fort conservation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit for the stone-laying ceremony of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial in the Arabian Sea.

Interestingly, Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar on Monday night had sent a letter to the CM office asking him to raise the issues of coastal road, Gargai-Pinjal dam project, and storm water drain project. Permissions for all three projects are awaited from Delhi.

The Maharashtra government recently formed a Cabinet sub-committee to speed up the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the helm of it. Other members include Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, Education Minister Vinod Tawde, and Transport Minister Divekar Raote.

THE HINDU