Vinod Tawde wants the Cenetral Government to establish 10 smart cities in Maharashtra

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Vinod Tawde, wants the newly sworn in Central Government to establish 10 smart cities in Maharashtra out of the 100 smart cities envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, across the country.

Tawde, who sent a list of demands to PM Narendra Modi, cited the increasing urbanization in the state to the tune of 42.4 per cent, while in the rest of the country, it was in the range of 27.8 percent, while addressing media persons on Wednesday.

Among the other demands Tawde also sought, are the implementation of Oval Maidan-Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor, the CST-Panvel High Speed corridor and the Airoli-Kalwa Transharbour Link projects.

Tawde also wants speedy implementation of the International Airport in the state and said that the project was intended to commence in 2006, but is yet to take off. Tawde also sought the establishment of a special cell in the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the project.

According to Tawde, there is a crisis of drinking water in places like Marathwada, Konkan and Western Maharashtra. Though thousands of crores have been spent on the drinking water projects, there is a scarcity in drinking water and have sought a right to get minimum drinking water and also for the need to jointly initiate drinking water projects to resolve the issue.

To resolve the issue of irrigation, the BJP had declared in its manifesto about its intention to start the 'Pradhan Mantri Irrigation Scheme' in the manifesto. Citing losses suffered by farmers due to the wet drought, Tawde said that the Centre should expedite the payment of remaining compensation of Rs852 crore out of the Rs1,600 crore demanded by the state.