top of page

By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources,...

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources, due to this, the BMC has not given any new connections to the Western Railway, which needs the connections because of the increase in the capacity of new coaches. Currently, the Western Railway is facing a water shortage of 20 per cent for train operations. Thus, the water is being filled at the next train stops like Surat and Valsad, or wherever the train halts. The dependency on water tankers has increased because the Western Railway did not have enough water connections from the BMC. This has caused more expenditure for the Western Railway. For Dadar terminus, the Western Railway uses 40 water tankers, each water tanker of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to four lakh litres of water every day. Around eight water tankers of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to 80,000 litres of water, are required for Dadar station. In total, the Western Railway incurs expenses on 4,80,000 litres of water every day. BMC PRO Tanaji Kamble has denied that there was no water connection at Dadar Railway Station. “Every station has BMC water connection,” he said. Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Western Railway Vineet Abhishek said, “All efforts are being taken to ensure there is no inconvenience to our passengers.”

The Saffron Flag Bearer

Devendra Fadnavis has many achievements to his credit—at 27, he became the youngest mayor of Nagpur and when he took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, he was the second youngest person to occupy the top post, only after Sharad Pawar who shouldered the responsibility when he was just 36. Born into a family that was active in the Jan Sangh, Fadnavis joined the ABVP, the student body of the BJP, while studying in Nagpur and became a corporator at 22 years, at an age when most are still completing their education. He continued his education to attain a degree in law and then in business management. His made his debut in the state legislature in 1999 when he won the elections from Nagpur and has represented the constituency since then.


His tenure as the leader of the opposition in Maharashtra was appreciated for his well-studied arguments and a close watch on the government’s policies. As the chief minister, he is credited with introducing several progressive initiatives such as digitisation of villages, the CM fellowship programme which was aimed at bringing in subject expertise into the CM’s office, reservation for orphans and mega infrastructure projects like the Samruddhi Expressway. The top job also came with ample criticism, from party colleagues as well. In 2019, his early morning attempt at forming a government with a break-away faction of the NCP, marred his stature. He had a public fall-out with alliance partner Uddhav Thackeray who accused him of going back on the promise of sharing the chief minister’s position in the government. The relations between the former saffron alliance partners soured enough for the two sides to hurl allegations at each other. In 2022, he formed a government with a faction of the Shiv Sena but had to settle for the position of the deputy chief minister. Over the course of his political career, Fadnavis has also held several top organisational positions within the BJP such as leading the youth wing in Maharashtra as the vice-president, becoming the state president of the party and also being in-charge of the BJP in Goa apart from being a leading face of the party.


Fadnavis’ father Gangadhar was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council as a representative of the Jan Sangh. His aunt Shobha Fadnavis is also in the legislative council and was a member of the assembly from Saoli in Vidarbha between 1990 and 2004 and also a former minister. His high-profile wife, Amruta, although not in politics, is active in Mumbai’s social circles and runs an NGO. Amruta won appreciation for being vocal about public issues and policies and retaining her bank job.

Comments

bottom of page