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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Infrastructure moment in MMR

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) stands at a critical inflection point as the Mahayuti alliance secured near-complete control over key municipal corporations across the region. With aligned political leadership at the state and civic levels, the long-fragmented governance architecture of India’s most complex urban agglomeration may finally see greater coherence in planning and execution. For a region grappling with mobility stress, water insecurity and uneven urban expansion, the...

Infrastructure moment in MMR

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) stands at a critical inflection point as the Mahayuti alliance secured near-complete control over key municipal corporations across the region. With aligned political leadership at the state and civic levels, the long-fragmented governance architecture of India’s most complex urban agglomeration may finally see greater coherence in planning and execution. For a region grappling with mobility stress, water insecurity and uneven urban expansion, the question now is not what to build—but how quickly and seamlessly projects can be delivered. Urban mobility remains the backbone of MMR’s infrastructure agenda. Several metro corridors are at advanced stages, including the Andheri West–Vikhroli Metro Line 6 and extensions of the Colaba–Bandra–SEEPZ Metro Line 3. While construction has progressed steadily, coordination issues with municipal agencies—particularly related to road restoration, utilities shifting and traffic management—have often slowed execution. With elected civic bodies now politically aligned with the state government and agencies like MMRDA and MMRC, these bottlenecks are expected to ease. Decision-making on road closures, permissions for casting yards and last-mile integration with buses and footpaths could see faster turnarounds. Suburban rail projects such as the Panvel–Karjat corridor and additional railway lines on the Central and Western routes are also likely to benefit from smoother land acquisition and rehabilitation approvals, traditionally the most contentious municipal functions. Regional Connectivity MMR’s road infrastructure has expanded rapidly in recent years, but execution has often been uneven across municipal boundaries. Projects such as the Mumbai Coastal Road, the Goregaon–Mulund Link Road, the Thane–Borivali tunnel and the Airoli–Katai connector have regional significance but require constant coordination with local bodies for utilities, encroachments and traffic planning. Under a unified civic dispensation, authorities expect fewer inter-agency delays and greater willingness at the municipal level to prioritise regionally critical projects over hyper-local political considerations. The next phase of the Coastal Road, suburban creek bridges, and arterial road widening projects in fast-growing nodes like Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli and Panvel could be streamlined as municipal corporations align their development plans with state transport objectives. Water Security Water supply remains one of the most politically sensitive infrastructure issues in MMR, particularly in peripheral urban zones. Projects such as the Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme and proposed dam developments in the Karjat region are designed to address chronic shortages in Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar and parts of Navi Mumbai. While these projects are state-driven, municipal cooperation is critical for distribution networks, billing systems and sewerage integration. With elected bodies replacing administrators, local governments are expected to accelerate last-mile pipelines, treatment plants and sewage networks that often lag behind bulk water infrastructure. Unified political control may also reduce resistance to tariff rationalisation and long-delayed sewage treatment upgrades mandated under environmental norms. Housing Integration One area where political alignment could have an outsized impact is redevelopment—particularly slum rehabilitation and transit-oriented development. Many large housing projects have stalled due to disputes between civic officials, state agencies and local political interests. A cohesive governance structure could fast-track approvals for cluster redevelopment near metro corridors, unlocking both housing supply and ridership potential. Municipal corporations are also likely to align their development control regulations more closely with state urban policy, enabling higher density near transport nodes and more predictable redevelopment timelines. This could be transformative for older suburbs and industrial belts awaiting regeneration. The return of elected municipal councils after years of administrative rule introduces political accountability but also sharper alignment with state priorities. Budget approvals, tendering processes and policy decisions that earlier faced delays due to political uncertainty are expected to move faster. Capital expenditure plans could increasingly reflect regional priorities rather than fragmented ward-level demands. However, challenges remain. Faster execution will depend not only on political control but on institutional capacity, contractor performance and financial discipline. Public scrutiny is also likely to intensify as elected representatives seek visible results within fixed tenures.

Meteor Over Mithila

Chirag Paswan has turned a once-fractured party into the NDA’s sharpest new instrument, giving the BJP its most credible alternative to Nitish Kumar yet.

For years, Chirag Paswan occupied an awkward corner of Bihar’s politics - too slight to be taken seriously, too famous to be dismissed. But the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections have reordered the hierarchy. His Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), written off after a family split and an electoral drubbing, has re-emerged as the NDA’s most surprising engine of success. With just 28 seats to contest, the party has won 19, elevating its young leader from an uncertain heir to a central pillar of Bihar’s ruling NDA which won a landslide in the polls.


At one level, the 2025 polls are a story of the BJP’s dominance and Nitish Kumar’s durability. At another level, however, they are the story of an unexpectedly formidable second player: a youthful party chief with a famous surname, a flair for messaging and a knack for reading political winds as uncannily as his father, the illustrious Ram Vilas Pawan once did.


In 2020, Chirag’s fortunes seemed in freefall. The undivided LJP contested independently, fielding 130 candidates but winning a solitary seat. The setback triggered a spectacular family rupture. His uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, split the party; the Election Commission froze the original name and symbol; and Chirag found himself leader of a faction with an uncertain future and no institutional machinery to rely on. Worse, Nitish Kumar, the long-serving chief minister and JD(U) stalwart, viewed him with suspicion. The LJP’s 2020 decision to field candidates exclusively against the JD(U), not the BJP, had helped depress Nitish’s tally to 43 seats - a humiliation the Chief Minister did not easily forget.


Yet Chirag did not retreat. He chose instead to cultivate the one alliance that had not deserted him: the BJP. Even outside the NDA fold, he refrained from criticising the party, calling himself Narendra Modi’s ‘Hanuman,’ a loyalist who disagreed only with Nitish. This sustained, almost theatrical devotion paid dividends. By 2024, Chirag re-entered the NDA and won the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat, retaking the constituency that had carried his father to Parliament for decades.


His political rehabilitation was matched by strategic groundwork. Chirag’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ across Bihar drew enthusiastic crowds, particularly among the state’s sizeable youth population. While Bihar’s headlines were dominated by migration and unemployment, Chirag offered a counter-narrative packaged neatly in his slogan: “Bihar First, Bihari First.”


The NDA rewarded this enthusiasm with what many in Patna considered an audacious gamble: 28 Assembly seats for a party written off just five years ago. Rivals sniped that the BJP had over-indulged him; some JD(U) leaders hinted darkly that the LJP(RV)’s organisational strength did not justify so many tickets. But elections have a ruthless way of settling arguments. With his party’s victories - many in constituencies where the NDA had historically struggled – Chirag has silenced sceptics.


The LJP(RV)’s performance is noteworthy for reasons beyond its strike rate. It adds a crucial 5-6 percent vote share to the NDA. Chirag’s candidates have held their own across regions, drawing not just from the loyal Dusadh base but from first-time voters, non-Yadav OBCs and EBCs - the very groups that form the backbone of the NDA’s social coalition.


For the BJP, Chirag’s ascent is not merely pleasing but strategically valuable. Nitish Kumar secured a record tenth term as CM, but his age, repeated defection history and thinning party bench have long concerned the BJP. For years it has lacked a credible, compliant alternative within the NDA - someone who could replace Nitish one day or at least moderate his bargaining power.


Chirag, with his unabashed loyalty to the BJP and his modern political idiom offers just that. A stronger LJP(RV) shifts Bihar’s power matrix subtly but unmistakably. Nitish remains the hollow centre around which the NDA’s machinery currently revolves. Yet he is no longer without rivals within the alliance. The BJP, for the first time since 2005, has a second pole to invest in.


While Chirag’s ambitions will undoubtedly test the NDA’s internal chemistry, he has turned personal popularity into organisational cohesion, and political perception into electoral reality. Bihar has produced several dynasts but few have managed to escape their inheritance long enough to build their own identity. Chirag Paswan now looks poised to join that slim category. The prince of Jamui has stepped out of his father’s shadow and onto the centre stage of Bihar’s political future.

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