MUMBAI, June 15 -- Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had recently pulled up contractors during a high-level war room meeting over delays in infrastructure projects, on Sunday inspected the northern stretch of the Coastal Road. He also paid a surprise visit to the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, directing contractors to complete the work "at all costs" by December 2028. During the visit, the CM suggested that a tunnel could be constructed via Manori to connect the Northern Coastal Road with the Uttan-Virar Sea Link through Gorai. "The Western Express Highway carries nearly 60% of Mumbai's traffic," he said. "Once this project is completed by October-November 2028, there will be signal-free connectivity between Nariman Point and Bhayander." Anticipating the CM's visit, environmentalists and representatives of the Koli community arrived at the site with memorandums of their demands and grievances such as mangrove and coastal ecosystem destruction and the impact on their livelihood. Since Fadnavis left the site after the inspection, the groups instead approached BJP MLA Sanjay Upadhyay and Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde. Upadhyay spoke to the protestors but the situation escalated after green activist Manan Desai described the Coastal Road North project as a "Rs.20,000-crore scam". A heated exchange ensued, and activists alleged that Upadhyay's supporters abused Desai and other protesters, calling them "terrorists" and "Pakistan-sponsored". The supporters also allegedly threatened Desai with physical assault while the MLA himself allegedly tried to manhandle him. As tensions mounted, the Charkop police personnel detained Desai and Chandrakant Suvarna of Save Mumbai Mangroves (SMM) and took them to the police station "for their own safety". Desai told HT that he was surprised how a democratic right to question a public representative had led to such intimidation. "We were having a conversation with him explaining how the project would harm mangroves, but he became unnecessarily angry," he said. "He said we had come to 'show the uselessness of the project and how taxpayers' money would be wasted'." The Kolis said they had come to submit a memorandum seeking compensation for the disruption they expect to face during the construction period. "The construction activity will affect our fish catch, and the changes to the marine ecology will disArupt our traditional livelihood," said Dhiraj Bhandari, chairperson of the Charkop Koliwada Machimar Sahakari Society Ltd. "We will have to bear the losses for the next 10 to 15 years." When contacted, Upadhyay told HT that he was "fed up" with the "narrative" that there would be destruction of Nature. "What about the coastal road reducing emission reduction?" he said "What about the reduction in time travel? The protestors seem to be blind to these benefits." Meanwhile, Fadnavis tweeted about the project on X.com, saying the corridor would be extended up to Virar and the Vadhavan Port, Palghar, in the future and would reduce travel time from Versova to Dahisar from 120-140 minutes to just 15-20 minutes. Claiming that "sustainability" was "central to the project", he claimed that mangrove conservation was a "priority", and his government was "actively expanding and protecting mangrove cover through plantations and dedicated parks"....