Bihar Minister Ashok Choudhary has dared the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to try and stop the construction of the 30-storey Bihar Bhavan near Mumbai Port Trust, days after MNS leader Yashwant Killedar stated that his party would never allow its construction in Mumbai under any circumstances.
“What kind of language is this? How can an MNS leader speak like this? We dare the MNS to stop construction of Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai. We will go ahead with its construction soon,” Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary said.
Recently, the Bihar cabinet had approved Rs 314.2 crore for its Bihar Bhavan project which is to be constructed on a 0.68-acre plot near Mumbai Port Trust in order to house Bihar migrants arriving in Mumbai for medical treatment and seeking employment opportunities.
The latest statement by Bihar Minister Ashok Choudhary is being viewed as a reaction to MNS corporator Yashwant Killedar’s statement on January 19 that “We will not allow anything like Bihar Bhavan to be built here (in Mumbai). Maharashtra already has many serious problems. There is an untimely crisis on farmers, inflation is rising, children’s education is becoming expensive, unemployment among the youth is increasing and with many such problems, instead of spending Rs 314 crore to build Bihar Bhavan, attention should be paid to basic problems of the people”.
“Instead of spending so much money in Mumbai for the people from Bihar who come to Mumbai for medical treatment, they must construct big hospitals in Bihar itself, so that people will not need to go outside Bihar for treatment. Our problems are not being solved and these projects are being pushed on our heads. We will not allow Bihar Bhavan to be built in Mumbai,” Killedar said on January 19.
MNS leader Yashwant Killedar’s statement was a reaction to a report that Bihar government’s Public Works Department Secretary Kumar Ravi had announced that a Bihar Bhavan building will be constructed at Elephant Estate in the Mumbai Port Trust area, in Mumbai as a facility for citizens from Bihar who come to Mumbai for treatment or work.
The Mumbai unit of the BJP had criticized MNS leader Killedar’s statement on January 19. “If Bihar Bhavan is going to be built in Maharashtra, what is wrong in it? There is a Maharashtra Bhavan in Bihar too. There are Maharashtra Bhavans in various states. There is a Maharashtra Bhavan in Kashmir. So should the people of Kashmir oppose it? There is a Maharashtra Bhavan in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh too. Did the people there oppose it? So what is wrong with starting a Bihar Bhavan in Maharashtra? These Bhavans are built in different states to facilitate guests coming from outside. MNS is unnecessarily indulging in regionalism on this issue. Raj Thackeray should think about the state of the MNS due to such regionalism,” BJP corporator Navnath Ban, who is also head of BJP’s media department had stated.
The proposed Bihar Bhavan will be around 30-storey high, including basement and modern amenities. The Bihar state cabinet has given the green light for administrative approval of Rs 314.20 crore for the project. The building is supposed to be constructed on around 0.68 acres of land and would have a height of about 69 metres from the ground.
Meanwhile, Bihar’s opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has criticised MNS leader Yashwant Killedar’s statement opposing the construction of a Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai, yet the RJD also slammed the Nitish Kumar government’s decision to construct Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai as a “misplaced priority”.
“The Bihar government’s decision to build a Rs 314 crore Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai is shocking when cancer patients in Bihar lack treatment facilities. With this money, a modern cancer hospital could be built in Bihar, saving patients’ lives and struggles to travel elsewhere,” RJD MP Sudhakar Singh said, adding that “Bihar needs treatment facilities, not a Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai”.
However, BJP’s national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan has lashed out against MNS leader Yashwant Killedar’s statement, saying that construction of the proposed Bihar Bhavan is the Bihar state government’s “policy decision”. “The language of threats used by the MNS is unpardonable,” the BJP leader said.