Mumbai: In a blend of pop culture flair and infrastructure ambition, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday borrowed the title of a hit Netflix thriller to describe Mumbai’s next big leap beneath its own feet.
“We are creating a Paatal Lok, a vast underground network of tunnels across Mumbai for complete decongestion,” Fadnavis declared, instantly turning a routine announcement into a viral soundbite. The reference, taken from the gritty web series showcasing the ‘netherworld,’ had the audience hooked.
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According to the Chief Minister, the plan envisions a parallel universe of roads beneath the city, mirroring surface routes but offering faster, uninterrupted movement for Mumbaikars long trapped in chronic gridlock. The upcoming metro corridors, he added, will strengthen this subterranean transformation.
Among the marquee projects in the pipeline are:
• A parallel road between Borivali and Goregaon,
• The Worli–Shivdi connector, slated for completion next year to provide seamless access from Atal Setu to the Bandra–Worli Sea Link, and
• A proposed tunnel from Bandra to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to dramatically improve airport connectivity.
But once the infrastructure pitch was done, Fadnavis switched gears, from tunnels to turf wars.
With elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) looming, the Chief Minister used the moment to fire political salvos. Describing India’s richest civic body as the “next frontline,” he underlined a simple truth of electoral combat: numbers matter as much as ideology.
“There are two ways to run a democracy, through ideology and through numbers. But you cannot propagate ideology without numbers,” he said, taking aim at political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor. Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, once touted as Bihar’s possible game-changer, failed to make a mark in the recent Assembly polls.
Fadnavis argued that even coalitions with differing ideologies can function on a common minimum programme, reminding that India has moved far beyond the chaotic 1990s when Prime Ministers changed with dizzying frequency.
The Chief Minister also defended the integrity of politics, pushing back against the popular perception that the system is steeped in corruption. “To say the entire system is corrupt is wrong. The Union Government does not have a single allegation of corruption. But at the State level, there are such instances,” he said.
From underground tunnels to political undercurrents, Fadnavis’ address seamlessly blended infrastructure vision with electoral messaging — leaving Mumbai with promises of a smoother drive, and Maharashtra with hints of the political battles ahead.
