Eastern Express Highway will be complete next year: Ashok Chavan

Chief minister Ashok Chavan has said that the group of ministers (GoM) headed by union home minister P Chidambaram cleared the hurdles which blocked the completion of the Eastern Express Highway near Wadala.  

Speaking to reporters after attending the GoM’s meeting in New Delhi on Friday, Chavan said that the 700-metre stretch that has been held up for past several years due to the controversy surrounding salt pan lands would now be competed. “We expect that the four-lane highway being constructed by MMRDA at a cost of Rs531 crore should be ready by June 2011. This shall ensure that an 11-kilometre distance is covered in less than 20 minutes,” he said.   

Chavan who was in Delhi especially for this meeting is scheduled to be back in the national capital to meet prime minister Manmohan Singh on the Babhali dam controversy. Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah would also be present for the meeting. 

Chavan said the government is willing to discuss all aspects of this issue at any forum. “We have always maintained that while implementing this project, we shall not commit any injustice against the people of Andhra Pradesh, and we shall go all out to protect the interests of the people of Maharashtra,” he said. 

A few days ago, the controversy had hit headlines when former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was detained by the auhtorities when he wanted to march to the project site along with his supporters. The impending meeting involving the prime minister and the chief ministers of both the states is a fallout of this agitation.