CM Devendra Fadnavis's home turf Nagpur gets several mega projects from under Mumbai's nose

Six months is considered a small period in politics and governance — things usually move at a snail's pace and promises are realised decades after they are made.
But chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's home town Nagpur, which lies in the heart of Maharashtra's most backward and neglected region of Vidarbha, seems to be exceptional. The city, which also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is set to witness a sea change, just six months into Fadnavis's term as chief minister.

Most of the mega projects approved for Maharashtra in the past five to six months, by the Centre and the state, are for Nagpur. These includes three educational institutions of national importance (IIM, AIIMS and NIPER), which will provide world-class education and research facilities and are together valued at Rs3,000 crore in terms of investment, apart from adding to premier management and medical education and research opportunities in the city, which even Mumbai doesn't have.

Fadnavis has also showered his home town with two unique universities — Skills University and Security University — which are the first of their kind in India. The city already has VNIT, a national institute of importance. Moreover, the ball on a national law university, which was approved by the previous government, will also be set rolling now, said a highly placed official.

Even the Suresh Halwankar committee, which recently drafted a new textile policy "Fiber to Fashion" for the state, seeks to establish four textile mega hubs in the state. Nagpur is identified as the knitting hub.
Some of these projects have been pushed to Nagpur to the detriment of other cities. For instance, Mumbai and Aurangabad both were expecting to get the prestigious IIM, but lost the race when the union ministry of human resource development took a final call in January.

BJP leaders admit that Nagpur is being pampered, but insist that this is to make up for the prolonged discrimination which Nagpur and the Vidarbha region have faced in the past. "This (approving projects for Nagpur) was much needed to reduce the development backlog of the region. After several decades, the power centre has really shifted here," said a senior BJP minister.

The party, which won 122 seats in Maharashtra, got 44 seats in Vidarbha.

Party leaders also give credit to transport minister Nitin Gadkari for batting for Nagpur in Delhi. "He has got a powerful position in the four-member core group of BJP at the national level, apart from becoming union minister with several portfolios," said another senior BJP minister.

BJP ministers also point to the recent big push to Mihan (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur), a 10-year-old mega project launched by the previous government, which was on the verge of being revamped due to skewed investments. Experts estimate that it could fetch Rs1,25,000 crore investment in the next couple of years as Fadnavis has started bringing about ease of doing business, with fewer approvals needed now.

In the next few years, Nagpur will no longer remain only the winter capital of Maharashtra, believe observers. "Nagpur will pip Mumbai soon in terms of job and education opportunities. This will also help the BJP build a young constituency supporting them in the next assembly polls," said an observer.

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are worried. Congress leader and ex-union minister Milind Deora alleged, "It is unfortunate that the state government is ignoring Mumbai. Development of Vidarbha is important but not at the cost of neglecting Mumbai."

"Fadnavis has always been a Vidarbha man. He is moving all projects to Nagpur with a clear agenda of having a separate Vidarbha state in the next few years. This is very important for the BJP as well. The party knows that it will not be able to gain power in Maharashtra again. Then Vidarbha will help them survive," said senior NCP leader Nawab Malik.
He also rejected allegations that Nagpur and Vidarbha were neglected during the Congress-NCP regime. "Mihan and Butibori were brought about by us, as were various infra projects for the city."

Major projects for Nagpur

IIM: The IIM-N is set to begin this year from the premises of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) till its permanent campus spread over 200 acres at Mihan becomes operational.

Security University: On the lines of the US and Israel, India's first Security University at Nagpur will churn out intelligence officers equipped to take on national security challenges. Spread over 100 acres, the university will provide rigorous military education with the help of US experts.

Skills University: Modelled on community colleges of the US, the Skill University is proposed to act as a placement finder-cum-skill trainer to cater to industry's requirement of skilled workers. The project aims to boost the career prospects of youth of Vidarbha region. A 100-acre plot has been identified in Bhandewadi.

AIIMS: The Rs2,000 crore project was announced after the BJP came to power at the Centre. It will not only boost tertiary health services in the region but will also bring 150 MBBS and 100 PG seats.

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research: Approved by the Centre in January, NIPER will conduct research and give a big boost to pharma industries like Lupin and Reddy's Lab

Textile Hub: The Suresh Halwankar committee has identified Nagpur as a knitting hub in its proposed textile policy with an aim to tap the potential of cotton-growing Vidarbha region.

Other mega projects: In the past six months, mega projects sanctioned for Butibori and Umred MIDC in Nagpur district have touched Rs4,000 crore, worth-wise, as is evident by the industry department figures.