Fadnavis Logs In From Tokyo To Push Officials In Maha | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: At 11.30 am IST and 3 pm Japan on Saturday, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis tweeted from Japan, “Chaired an online meeting this afternoon from Tokyo with the secretaries of various departments, BMC commissioner and senior officials of the Government of Maharashtra. After the back to back milestones and meetings in Japan, it is important to expedite and get things going.”
Fadnavis was on a five-day visit to Japan as a state guest. During this period, he even called up the Centre and urged it to procure onions from Maharashtra and then tweeted about it.
The competition between the three men at the helm of state affairs — chief minister Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis and the other deputy CM Ajit Pawar — is so stiff, said observers, that Fadnavis did not wait to return home but rather preferred to direct officials from Japan to work speedily on “the respective action points and coordinate internally on dedicated Japanese cell to facilitate Japanese investments and collaborations, Versova-Virar sea link project, Mumbai Flood Mitigation Project, Mumbai Metro Line -11, scholarships at Koyasan University, Indian Mela at Kobe in Japan and conservation of all historic and traditional water bodies,” as Fadnavis said in his post on X.
Before leaving for Japan, Fadnavis had told TOI that no MoU would be signed during his visit as the Japanese take at least 4-5 meetings before they take a decision.
At the Mumbai airport, Fadnavis speaking to the media said the Japanese had shown keen interest in the 42 km Versova-Virar sea link which would make the entire western Mumbai suburbs and the west region of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region free from traffic jams.
“The Japanese have shown interest in cooperating for the project and asked it be sent to the Centre to be forwarded to them,” he said, adding they had agreed to fund the CST-Wadala underground metro project.
Fadnavis said the Japanese were also keen on a flood mitigation project for Mumbai on the lines of the one implemented in Tokyo “wherein a complete underground network has been created so that when heavy rains coincides with high tide and it is not possible to pump water out to sea, to collect the water and then decide whether to discharge the water or use it.” “We had given this project to them in the past and now to expedite it they have shown interest,” he said.