Nagpur-Goa highway project only with public support: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde

MUMBAI: After farmers from Mangaon village in Hatkanangale tehsil of Kolhapur district burnt copies of the land acquisition notification issued by state govt on Wednesday evening to express their opposition to Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth highway, CM Eknath Shinde said that ‘the project will be taken forward only by considering the sentiments of the public and taking them into confidence and no project will be imposed on the people or taken away’.
“A protest is going on against the Nagpur-Goa Shakti Peeth Highway. This government belongs to the common people. Therefore, the project will be taken forward only by considering the sentiments of the public and taking them into confidence. No project will be imposed on the people or taken away. We completed this game changer project of Samruddhi Highway by taking public trust. Accordingly, we are also thinking whether the place where there is opposition in this Shaktipeeth highway project can be redrawn. But no project will move forward without taking the public into confidence,” CM Shinde said in a post on X.
Protestors have claimed that despite opposition to the Shaktipeeth highway from farmers, the govt. is still issuing land acquisition notification without a hearing against the objections received against it. Meanwhile, on June 27, the farmers from the Kavalapur in Sangli district will be carrying a Rasta-roko protest in front of Siddeshwar temple at Kavalapur in Miraj tehsil of Sangli district.
While the ‘Shaktipeeth Highway Virodhi Sheti Bachao Samiti’ will be carrying a Dharna protest outside Sangli district collectorate on the same day. An all-party protest rally was organised in Kolhapur to demand cancellation of the 802-km-long Shaktipeeth Highway project, involving farmers protesting against the acquisition of 8,000 hectares of land for the highway connecting pilgrim destinations in Maharashtra.
Land acquisition for the Rs 80,000 crore Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth expressway is on hold until after the assembly polls. Some farmers are reluctant to give their lands for the project, causing political concerns ahead of the elections. Earlier this month, a delegation of the protesters met guardian minister Hasan Mushrif and Kolhapur collector Amol Yedge. They also submitted a written statement of demand to cancel the Shaktipeeth highway.