scorecardresearch
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndiaMaharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray announces stay on Aarey metro car shed construction

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray announces stay on Aarey metro car shed construction

In October this year, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena had opposed the felling of over 2,000 trees to build a metro car shed in Aarey Colony.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced a stay to construction of metro car shed in the city’s green lung Aarey Colony, where strong protests had erupted last month against cutting of trees for the work.

He, however, clarified that he had not stayed the work of the Mumbai metro rail project itself.

Thackeray, who is heading a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition, was sworn in on Thursday.

Then BJP-led government in Maharashtra had come under fire from green activists in October when over 2,000 trees were felled for a car shed, to be constructed in Aarey Colony which is adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

The Shiv Sena, then junior partner in the Devendra Fadnavis government, had opposed the felling of trees.

“I have stayed Aarey car shed work. I will review the entire thing…I will not allow a culture where trees are cut at night,” Thackeray told reporters.

“Not a single tree leaf will be cut till further orders,” he added.

A Supreme Court bench had last month sought a status report with pictures on plantation, transplantation and felling of trees in Aarey colony area.

The Bombay High Court had on October 4 refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest and declined to quash the Mumbai municipal corporation’s decision to allow felling of over 2,600 trees in the green zone to set up a metro car shed.

Hours after the court gave a go-ahead, tree were cut at night, fueling outrage.

During an interaction with the media at the press room of the state secretariat, Thackeray also said he became chief minister unexpectedly, but he didn’t want to run away from the responsibility.

He took a dig at his predecessor, Fadnavis, over the latter’s “I will come again (as chief minister)” refrain during the poll campaign, saying, “I didn’t announce that I will become chief minister.”

The Shiv Sena president, who was accompanied by his son and MLA Aaditya, also noted that he is the first chief minister of Maharashtra who was born in Mumbai, and added that he is working on plans to ensure development of the city.

His government will be accountable for every paisa of tax-payers, the chief minister said.

Asked about the saffron kurta he was wearing, Thackeray said, cryptically, that it was his favourite colour “which cannot get washed in any laundry”.

The BJP had aimed barbs at the Sena after it joined hands with the Congress-NCP, questioning its commitment to Hindutva.

Thackeray also avoided direct reply to the question whether he will shift to `Varsha’, the official bungalow of chief minister in south Mumbai, from his residence `Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra.

He will do “whatever it takes to meet people and solve their problems”, he said.


Also read: Shiv Sena was hated by Indian liberals as extremist Hindutva party. Now, it’s their darling


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

2 COMMENTS

  1. Let the newly minted CM and his dear son take a ride on the Mumbai local . I doubt anywhere in the world people have to travel in such sub-human conditions. 35 years in charge of Mumbai and couldn’t give a toss to any of people’s woes — why roads wash away after a few showers? Does this happen anywhere else? Singapore, Columbo, Kuala Lumpur — where it rains almost every day of the year? The very potholed roads the CM and his SS cohorts travel — no sense of pride at all in having decent roads, drains, 24/7 water supply befitting the financial and commercial capital of the country.
    At least Fadnavis started the underground metro!

  2. The new government will need to strike a sustainable balance between development and the environment. Millions of Mumbaikars use the local train network, appreciate how fast, convenient, economical – though not always comfortable – it is. Also how much it contributes to reducing pollution. If enlarging and modernising that network, including taking a lot of it underground, requires trees to be cut, citizens need to be taken into confidence, persuaded. That midnight drama, students being arrested under non bailable sections before their exams on Monday, rendering the SLP in the apex court infructuous, all that showed the administration in a very poor light.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular