Massive protest by farmers in Maharashtra against Shaktipeeth Expressway project

On Tuesday, farmers in Maharashtra protested against the Shaktipeeth Expressway project. Farmers are extremely angry about this. Farmers from many parts of the 12 districts through which the expressway will pass are involved in the protest. On the second day of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly, the opposition is also united on this issue. The Maharashtra government had on June 24 approved the design and land acquisition for the 802-km-long Shaktipeeth Expressway. About 7,500 hectares of land will be acquired for the project. Farmers in districts like Kolhapur, Beed, Sangli, Dharashiv are not even allowing land survey for this project. He said that due to this project, the cultivable fertile lands of thousands of farmers are being destroyed. The 'Shaktipeeth Highway' will connect 12 districts and 18 religious places, including Wardha, Parbhani, Yavatmal, Nanded, Beed, Latur, Hangoli, Dharashiv, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. With this, the 802 km long expressway will reduce the journey from Nagpur to Goa from 18 hours to 8 hours. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 80,000 crore. The government has sanctioned a total of Rs 20,787 crore for the project. After this decision, the farmers of the districts through which this highway is going to pass have become angry. The opposition to the Shaktipeeth Expressway is old, after the huge losses it caused in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the project was put on the back burner before the assembly elections. But after the results of the assembly elections, the project has been revived. It is now feared that in the upcoming local body and municipal elections, the anger of the farmers may weigh heavily on the government. Mahayuti ministers Prakash Abitkar and Hasan Mushrif from Kolhapur are said to be upset with this approval. The Mahayuti's ambitious' Shaktipeeth Expressway Project 'aims to connect major pilgrimage sites besides Jyotirlingas, spiritual, historical sites.