Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: Infrastructure projects worth Rs 8 lakh crore are under various stages of implementation in Maharashtra, the highest in any state. It was the Number 1 state in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and one of the biggest contributors to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). This was stated by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The state is a preferred destination for many industries and some business entities have also evinced interest in the health sector as the state has good infrastructure and connectivity, along with potential for more growth.
A new 337km long metro network will be ready in Mumbai soon and this will decongest the city and keep 50 lakhs to 60 lakh cars off roads. The first phase of cement concretisation of roads is going on in Mumbai and the second stage work will be undertaken soon. CM Shinde also promised to make roads in the metropolis free of potholes, which pose a risk to motorists, in the next two years.
“Pollution, trouble to the public every monsoon…deaths on roads. What is all this? This should not happen. People’s money should be spent on people,” he said.
The Chief Minister said he had asked Mumbai civic commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to create green spaces wherever possible and develop urban forests in the financial capital. “Gardens are the lungs of the city. These are big oxygen parks,” he said.
For the first time the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made a Rs 3,000-crore provision for ‘zero prescription policy’ under which free medicines will be given to patients at civic hospitals. He claimed the Mumbai civic body has spent Rs 7,000 crore on health infrastructure in one year and the number of beds in hospitals has increased to 12,000 from 5,000 in last 18 months.