Mumbai Trans Harbour Sealink project: RTI reply reveals project’s cost went up by Rs 2000 crore after missing multiple deadlines Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link on January 12. The Chief Minister added that the 21.8-kilomtre long bridge between Sewri in Mumbai and Nhava Sheva area in Raigad district will cut down the travel time from two hours to around 15-20 minutes. The much anticipated Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project aims to provide a faster connectivity with the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport, JNPT Port, Mumbai – Pune Expressway and Mumbai – Goa Highway. It has received the official designation of ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu,’ paying tribute to the enduring legacy of the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project delays and cost escalation The Indian Express has reported that a reply to the RTI filed by activist Anil Galgali showed that the project, whose original cost was Rs 14, 712.70 crore, has seen a cost escalation of Rs 2,192 crore or 14.9 per cent to Rs 16,904.43 crore. Initially scheduled for conclusion on September 22, 2022, the project encountered delays caused by Covid-related lockdowns, resulting in two deadline extensions — initially to September 22, 2023, and subsequently to December 15, 2023, both of which were not met. Authorities are currently aiming for the inauguration of the sea bridge in early 2024. About Mumbai Trans Harbour Link The 21.8-kilometre-long bridge will connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai. Post its completion, it will reportedly be the longest sea bridge in India. It will begin in Sewri, South Mumbai and terminate at Chirle village, near Nhava Sheva. It will pass through Thane Creek north of Elephant Island. Of its 21.8-kilometre length, the length on sea is 16.50 kilometers and the land it is 5.5 kilometers. It will contain a 6-lane (3+3 lane) highway, in addition to one emergency lane on both sides. There are three interchanges, at Sewri in Mumbai, Shivaji-Nagar and SH-54 in Jasai and at Chirle on NH-348. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is overseeing the project’s execution.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.