Mumbai: Almost a year after the BMC floated a Rs 30-crore tender for Mahalaxmi Temple precinct beautification project, administrative approval is still pending. Last year, Ekanth Shinde, who was then CM, had even performed the bhoomipujan for the project.
“It is an engineering, procurement, and construction contract. The contractor was to present design options, but the process is still underway,” said a senior civic official. “The file has been sent for administrative approval and financial sanction. Once that is done, fund provision will be made and a work order will be issued. The groundbreaking was done last year on the basis of the letter of acceptance .”
Sources close to Shinde, who is now deputy CM, said he is upset with the delay in his pet project. “As CM, Shinde had allocated Rs 280 crore for the development of Mumbadevi and Mahalaxmi temple complexes, and Rs 35 crore for the Jagannath Shankarsheth memorial. He had then directed the BMC to provide Rs 60 crore for the development of Mahalaxmi Temple precinct. The delay is unacceptable… The temple trust has raised the matter with Shinde too,” said a Shiv Sena functionary.
Now, Shaina NC, Sena’s nominee for the Mumbadevi assembly seat in the 2024 polls, has sought state collaboration on the Mahalaxmi Temple precinct beautification project through her NGO, I Love Mumbai. On Feb 10, she wrote to chief secretary Sujata Saunik seeking permission to “contribute to the Coastal Road Beautification Project”. As part of the project, the BMC is designing a holistic pilgrim facility that will link the Mahalaxmi Temple precinct with Mumbai Coastal Road Garden.
The beautification works include realignment and redesigning of stalls, decorative arch entrance gates, escalators, CCTV cameras, murals, landscaping, a skywalk from Mahalaxmi Temple and crossing the connector from Akruti Park to the temple and landing near the coastal road garden, solar panels, a revamped walkway, and a control room for illumination, signages, and pedestrian flow management.
