Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. File photo

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 11

In an unprecedented attack on the defence services, Union Minister for Shipping and Transport Nitin Gadkari on Thursday hit out at the naval top brass for refusing permission for the construction of a floating hotel, or floatel, and a private jetty on the Arabian Sea.Gadkari said the construction of the floatel and the jetty near the base of Malabar Hill did not pose any security risk. “What has the Navy to do with Malabar Hill? They should be guarding the country’s borders. You should be going to the Pakistani border and do patrolling,” Gadkari said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the International Cruise Terminal here. Among those who present on the occasion included Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Chief, Western Naval Command.Incidentally, the site of the proposed floating hotel and the jetty for it are located just a few km from where Kasab and his fellow terrorists from Pakistan landed on November 26, 2008.Continuing with his harangue against the naval authorities, Gadkari alleged that the men in white were after the minister to allot plots of land for construction of housing for them. “These navy officers wanted a plot of land to build houses in South Mumbai. I will not give you even one inch of land. Why do you want to build houses in South Mumbai? I will not entertain you,” he said.Gadkari went on to say that he headed a committee to clear stalled infrastructure projects and would push for the construction of the floating jetty and hotel when the project comes to him for clearance. “We are the government. The Navy and the defence ministry are not the government,” he added.The Navy and the Coast Guard had earlier refused to give the green signal to the little-known private company, Rashmi Development Private Ltd, to build a floating hotel in the Arabian Sea and construct a floating jetty near Malabar Hill to offer seaplane services and ferry tourists to the floatel. Both the agencies had warned of security threats to several vital installations should private companies and foreigners were allowed access to the coast.Gadkari, as Union minister for shipping and transport, is aggressively pushing for the construction of tourism-based infrastructure along the coast of Maharashtra.

@narendramodi @DefenceMinIndia Ur minister must know without Indian Navy in Mumbai he is inviting Pak Adventurers for another 26/11.

Pl advise Nitin Gadkari remain within limits.

2019 is NOT far