Fadnavis calls NAINA the "third Mumbai", expects 15 lakh jobs with local people first

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday that the proposed NAINA city near Navi Mumbai International Airport is expected to create about 15 lakh jobs. Five lakh of these will be highly paid, and he said local people would have the first claim on these opportunities.

Fadnavis described NAINA, the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area, as the "third Mumbai". According to him, this new urban centre will be a major engine of Maharashtra's growth for the next 50 years.

He was speaking at an event to launch development works in NAINA and inaugurate the Uran bypass road in Raigad district. He said, "Of the 15 lakh, 5 lakh jobs will be highly paid and 10 lakh at the basic to intermediate level. Our effort is that the first claim on these opportunities should belong to the sons and daughters of the soil."

The chief minister also said the Navi Mumbai airport should not be seen merely as a flying facility. It is an economic multiplier that will raise the region's GDP. According to him, the next phase of GDP and development will come from NAINA. He said, "Tremendous opportunities will be created here."

Fadnavis said Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad and Palghar will be important engines of Maharashtra's economic growth over the next five decades. He said Maharashtra is the only state where Mumbai, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Nagpur are separate growth engines. According to him, planned cities can increase economic and social opportunities.

The chief minister acknowledged that the NAINA project was delayed because farmers did not trust the land allotment process. Farmers complained that a promise of 40 per cent of the land in return had been made, but they did not know where the developed plot would be. In some places, irregularities were found when farmers were taken to the sites shown to them.

Fadnavis said, "There was a feeling among farmers that injustice would be done to them again. CIDCO would get its work done and they would get nothing." He said the government has empowered CIDCO to correct errors in the final development plan. These include overlapping plots, wrong plot numbers and errors in land ownership records.

He said, "The government had decided that the bhoomipujan would be held on the day farmers get their land papers. Distribution has begun, and issues are being resolved by going village to village." He praised a CIDCO booklet that gives details of the rights of project-affected people, developed plots, FSI and the different categories of landowners. He called it the "Gita of project-affected people" and said it would bring transparency. He assured farmers that the government would remain available until their grievances are resolved.

On connectivity, Fadnavis said bridges linking the airport and the Uran bypass would make it possible, in the next six to eight months, to travel from Worli in Mumbai to the airport without any signal. He cited the Atal Setu and proposed connectivity projects for this. He said the government is preparing an integrated water plan for the developing areas of Raigad and Thane districts.

He said, "Development does not come from roads, drains and street lights alone. Drinking water is just as essential. Along with urban infrastructure, the government will create sources of drinking water and ensure supply to the municipal corporations, municipal councils and villages of the growing area." According to him, NAINA is a new beginning in the relationship between farmers, residents, CIDCO and the government.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called the day historic. He said it would resolve long-pending issues. Shinde said the government has waived development charges and betterment charges for landowners, and a freehold process is being set up to record ownership on property cards.

Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Ajit Pawar said NAINA's planned development and connectivity to the airport would create jobs for local youth in industry, business, services and tourism. According to her, it would also reduce the administrative and population burden on Mumbai.