Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the gathering at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Navi Mumbai International Airport. The Rs 16,700 crore worth Navi Mumbai airport has been a 21-year-old dream for the megapolis.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present at the event.
Planned in 1997, as a secondary airport to meet the growing needs of Mumbai at an investment of Rs 3,000 crore, the project was inordinately delayed due to a myriad of factors, including political indecision, issues of environmental clearances and the funding.
Admitting that the international airport project has been stalled for years, he said that it was important for his government to complete projects within a “desired time frame”.
The prime minister also credited his government for bringing in an aviation policy that he believed was “transforming the sector”.
Shiv Sena legislators from Raigad district on 18 February claimed that the BJP-led Maharashtra government deliberately did not invite local MP and MLA of the Sena for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Navi Mumbai International Airport.
Local Sena MLA Manoj Bhoir alleged that he and member of Parliament from Maval, Shrirang Barne, were deliberately not invited for the function.
"This is an insult to people's representatives....I condemn this act of the BJP-led government, as it has insulted the people of Uran Assembly constituency which I represent," Bhoir said.
Though the BJP and Sena are partners in the state as well as in the NDA government at the Centre, relations between the two are strained.
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