THE Maharashtra Government on Wednesday decided to rename the Versova-Bandra Sea Link after the late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) after former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Versova Bandra Sea Link will be known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar Sagari Setu and the MTHL as Atal Behari Vajpayee Smruti Shivdi-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said. The decisions were taken in the State Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. The MTHL is an under-construction 21.8 km access-controlled road bridge which will connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai.

 

Shinde had announced naming the Versova-Bandra sea link after Savarkar a month back. The eight-lane sea bridge is being constructed at the cost of Rs 11,332 crore. It is a 9.6-km long bridge with a 7.57 km connecting road. The bridge will be completed by December 2026, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said. The MTHL, which will be known as Atal Behari Vajpayee Smruti Shivdi Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, is 95 per cent complete and will become operational by December 2023. The (renaming) decision has been taken to pay tribute to Vajpayee’s efforts to make India a visionary, developed and strong country, reads the statement.

 

The Cabinet also approved constructing a memorial to mark the liberation of Marathwada which will be set up in Aurangabad. A budgetary provision of Rs 100 crore has been made for this project. The Cabinet also approved to set up of a separate corporation for the unorganised sector to extend social security and welfare schemes to workers. The Cabinet decided that rivers will be desilted in the 1,648-km network as a preventive measure against flooding and a provision of Rs 6,034 crore will be made in the Budget.