In October, Maharashtra announced shifting the car-shed from Aarey to Kanjur Marg.
The political war between Maharashtra and the Central government over the site of a Metro car-shed refuses to die down. Now the Union government's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has sent out a letter to the state asking it to restrain the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) from carrying out any work at the Kanjur Marg location.
The letter, addressed to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar, says the land belongs to the Government of India and will be "against the interest of GOI".
It further states, "The improper and unilateral action of the Collector, MSD, and MMRDA has caused severe loss to the DPIIT, Government of India. I would request you to direct the Collector to withdraw the orders passed in this regard in order to protect the interests of the Government of India."
The letter contradicts what the Maharashtra government and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray have been saying: That The Kanjur Marg plot belongs to the state of Maharashtra. It claims to belong to salt pan land thus escalating the war of words between the Centre and the state.
Referring to the issue, Shiv Sena Youth Wing President Aditya Thackeray said the Central government wanted to stop development in states not governed by BJP anymore.
"Kanjur Marg land was, in fact, the ideal place proposed for Metro Car Depot during the BJP led govt," Mr Thackeray tweeted today. "The...land allotted by the Collector to MMRDA for Car depot of Metro has always been with government of Maharashtra as per revenue records. The Collector, Mumbai Suburban, has done due diligence of all land records and all sub-judice matters in all competent courts."
He, therefore, insisted that the MMRDA will carry on with its work for the Metro joint Car Depots at Kanjur Marg as earlier decided.
Earlier in the day, Nawab Malik, a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government, said this was "a conspiracy" by the BJP-led Centre to halt the Metro car-shed work.
"Earlier BJP said this was a private land. Now they are saying this is GOI land....Metro car-shed will be made on the same plot and we will submit all the documents and reply to the letter of DPITT."
In early October, CM Thackeray announced that the Metro car-shed would be shifted from the contentious Aarey plot to Kanjur Marg, which belongs to state government, at zero cost.
However, the leader of opposition and ex-CM, Devendra Fadnavis, claims this shift will lead to a cost escalation and delays. He also claimed the Kanjur Marg land is mushy land and not fit for the Metro car-shed.
NDTV sent out a message to the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra to know what steps the state will take now and whether it has replied to DPIIT's letter. But the CS has not yet replied at the time of publishing.
Reacting to the developments, BJP leader Ram Kadam says, "Shifting the car-shed from Aarey to Kanjur Marg will cost over Rs 4,000 crore. Whose money it is? It is the money of common people and taxpayers of our country. It is just because of the ego that the Uddhav Thackeray government is doing all this."