Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday asked officials to speed up land acquisition for infrastructure and industrial projects while ensuring that landowners are not inconvenienced during the process. Stressing that timely availability of land is critical for sustaining economic momentum, he said efficient acquisition was essential to drive industrial expansion and large-scale infrastructure development across the state.
Fadnavis was speaking while chairing a review meeting at his official residence, where land acquisition related to projects of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was assessed. According to a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, around 8,969 acres of land are currently available for industrial use across various departments, while an additional 20,431 acres have been newly acquired.
Highlighting the strong interest Maharashtra continues to attract from domestic and global investors, Fadnavis directed MIDC to work towards making one lakh acres of land available to meet future industrial demand. He noted that the need for industrial land is no longer limited to traditional hubs such as Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, but is also rising rapidly in cities like Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Solapur.
To address this growing requirement, the chief minister instructed district collectors to expedite land acquisition processes in their respective jurisdictions. He underlined the importance of coordination between departments to avoid delays and ensure projects move forward smoothly.
The review also covered land acquisition for several major MSRDC infrastructure projects. These include the Shaktipeeth Expressway, the Virar–Alibag Multimodal Corridor, the Nagpur–Gondia, Bhandara–Gadchiroli and Nagpur–Chandrapur road projects, the Jalna–Nanded expressway, as well as the Navegaon–Surjagad mineral corridor. Fadnavis said these projects are vital for improving connectivity, supporting industrial clusters and unlocking economic potential in less-developed regions.
Emphasising timely execution, the chief minister said all ongoing projects should be planned in a manner that ensures completion within the next three years. He also instructed officials to focus on acquiring large, contiguous parcels of non-forest land so that industries can be developed efficiently without fragmentation-related constraints.
In another key direction, Fadnavis asked departments to submit proposals for transferring government-owned land to MIDC free of cost for industrial purposes. He said such transfers would help lower land costs for investors, attract fresh investment and generate employment opportunities across the state.
Industry Minister Uday Samant, who was present at the meeting, clarified that no forest land has been acquired in the Konkan region. He added that issues related to the additional Gondpipri industrial area in Chandrapur district have been resolved, and a proposal for land allotment there has now been received and will be approved.
The meeting underscored the state government’s push to align land availability with Maharashtra’s ambitious infrastructure and industrial growth plans.
Source: Hindustan Times
